NCOC decides to start vaccinating children aged 12 and above

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11
In this file photo, federal minister Asad Umar addresses the handover a ceremony in Karachi. — DawnNewsTV/File
In this file photo, federal minister Asad Umar addresses the handover a ceremony in Karachi. — DawnNewsTV/File

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar announced on Tuesday that the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had decided to start inoculating children who are 12 years and older.

"A special drive will be run for vaccination at schools to make it easier for children to be vaccinated," he said.

According to NCOC statistics, the country administered 961,340 Covid-19 doses on September 27. So far, Pakistan has administered 79,531,641 doses.

"Non-vaccinated people will be facing various restrictions from October 1! Get yourself completely vaccinated immediately!" the NCOC warned earlier today.

The government had allowed citizens above the age of 17 to get vaccinated from Sept 1. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, during a press conference, had announced that these adolescents would have to be fully vaccinated by Oct 15 in order to enter educational institutions.

Shortly after, the government had decided to start vaccinating adolescents in the age group of 15 to 17 years.

Earlier this month, the NCOC had revised its Covid-19 vaccination guidelines for citizens below the age of 18 and said that they will be administered the Pfizer vaccine.

People below the age of 18 will have to provide their B-form number for registration in the National Immunisation Management System, the NCOC statement had said.

Pakistan reports 1,400 virus cases

Earlier today, Pakistan reported 1,400 coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours — the lowest since July 5, when 830 infections were detected in the country.

The highest number of new cases were reported from Punjab at 574, followed by 535 in Sindh and 143 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The total number of cases is 1,241,825, and the positivity rate is 3.1 per cent. Meanwhile, 41 more coronavirus-related fatalities have taken the death toll to 27,638.

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