The move appears to be motivated by the introduction of locally manufactured vaccine by NIH
The COVID-19 vaccination registration will now be open for the entire population over 19 years of age from May 27th, Minister Asad Umar, head of the National Command and Operation (NCOC) announced.
The government aims to vaccinate 70% of the population eligible for the vaccine by 2021. This accounts for approximately 70 million people.
Pakistan has recently received several million doses of various vaccines which have allowed a greater volume of vaccination.
About 250,000 people are vaccinated every day in the country. With the introduction of PakVac, a vaccine produced by the National Institute of Health (NIH) with the support of CanSinoBio, the local capacity will increase to 3 million doses per moth as per officials.
The move should help mostly control the coronavirus by the end of 2021. It will still likely take another year to fully eradicate it from the country but its impact should be blunted by the end of the current year.
