Planning Minister Asad Umar Tuesday announced that the government has launched a massive door-to-door vaccination campaign to administer over 35 million COVID-19 shots as the country battles the fifth wave of the virus.
Addressing a news conference at the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) along with SAPM on National Dr Faisal Sultan, Asad Umar said under the first phase of the campaign, 55,000 mobile teams will vaccinate people at their homes for the next two months.
Sharing data about vaccination so far, the minister said 80 million people have been fully vaccinated while 10 million others received a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. He said 2.6 million people also received the booster dose.
“It has been noticed during the current fifth wave of COVID-19 that the people in the areas with high vaccination rates have minor symptoms of the disease,” Asad Umar said.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Faisal Sultan urged the public to stop being “lazy” and get a booster shot if they haven’t already.
“Scientific data has shown that people need an additional dose of the vaccine despite being fully vaccinated for protection against COVID-19 if six months and over have passed,” Dr Sultan said.
He said that earlier, the NCOC was only asking people to get the booster dose and door-to-door vaccination campaign, but now it is recommending it again based on scientific evidence.
The SAPM said that the additional dose is being administered for free so people should benefit from it as much as possible.
“The biggest advantage of getting a booster shot will be that we can stay safe from the Omicron variant,” Dr Sultan said, adding that the only way to get rid of the restrictions that people are facing for the last two years is vaccination against COVID-19.
“Anyone who hasn’t gotten vaccinated yet due to their inattention or laziness, they still have a chance to get vaccinated now,” the SAPM said.
“These vaccines are protecting against the spread of this disease, hazards and side effects of the disease, hospitalisation and other complications.”
He requested the public not to turn away vaccination teams if they reach their doorstep.
Source: The News