The National Command and Operation Centre said on Sunday that registration of citizens above 30 years of age for Covid-19 vaccines were now open, urging every one to "get yourself vaccinated".

In a tweet, the NCOC explained that citizens above 30 years of age could register themselves by sending their CNIC numbers to 1166. It added that walk-in vaccinations were now open for those above 40 years, but it would require prior registration.

Last week, the NCOC had decided to begin registering people between the 30 and 40-year age bracket for Covid-19 vaccines after Eidul Fitr. The vaccines will, however, be administered after a few days, when a significant number of people have registered.

At the time, Federal Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar had said that due to availability of sufficient doses, it had been decided to expand the vaccine outreach to other age groups.

“As vaccine supply continues to improve and vaccination capacity gets enhanced in all federating units, we continue to expand the categories of those who are eligible to get vaccinated."

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services, who was not authorised to talk to media, had said that 22 million people fell in the age bracket of 30 to 40 years.

“The number of people over 50 years is 27m and around 12m are in the age bracket of 40 to 50 years. Overall 61m people have been allowed to get themselves registered for vaccination. As many as 39m people can avail the walk-in facility at the centre of their choice,” he had said.

The official had said that registration of over 30-year age group would start from May 16 and as soon as a considerable number of people got listed, the vaccination process would start.

“There are around 40m people in the age bracket of 18 to 30 and the NCOC is trying to allow their registration at the earliest,” he had said.

Replying to a question, the official had said that Pakistan was making arrangements to procure more vaccines from China and the Accountant General of Pakistan had released $6m for 1m more doses of Sinovac vaccine.

“By the end of the current month, production of the vaccine will also start at the National Institute of Health. Moreover, we will get millions of doses under Covax in the coming months,” he had added.