by Shafqat Ali

 

Karachi, Feb 7th (Gwadar Pro) – Sindh provincial government plans to complete the first phase of vaccinating frontline health workers with the Chinese vaccines aid within the next few weeks, the Chief Minister of Sindh said.

 

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told Gwadar Pro, that his government was thankful to the friendly Chinese government for gifting the vaccines at a critical time.

 

“The vaccination process is ongoing. We hope to complete the vaccinations in the coming weeks. China’s aide came just in time,” he said.

 

CM Shah said besides the health workers, journalists were also among his priority list for the vaccination. “For me, everyone is important, but the health workers and the journalists are more exposed, so I am keeping them as my priority,” he added.

 

Official data said Sindh had administered corona vaccine to overall 7,349 frontline workers so far, as the provincial health department released the data of the vaccination drive across the province since receiving the vaccines on February 3.

 

According to the provincial health department figures, during the vaccination drive for the frontline health workers, 1,192 anti-viral vaccine shots administered at Karachi’s Khaliq Dina Hall vaccination centre, 462 health workers received jabs at Jinnah Hospital, 558 vaccine shots at Dow University Ojha Campus, 551 vaccine shots at Qatar Hospital Orangi, 255 vaccine jabs at Sindh Government Hospital, New Karachi, while 615 frontline workers were vaccinated at Liaquatabad Hospital in Karachi.

 

Moreover, 268 anti-viral vaccine shots were administered to health workers at the Children Hospital, New Karachi, 722 workers were vaccinated at Sindh Govt. Hospital, Korangi, 881 health workers were administered Covid vaccine at Urban Health Unit, Thaddo Nalo in Malir.

 

At Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, 724 frontline workers received vaccine shots, while 1,121 frontline workers received corona vaccine shots at Shaheed Benazirabad MCH Centre, according to the data released by the health department.

 

Pakistan has distributed the Chinese Covid-19 vaccine among the four provinces as the country aimed to defeat the pandemic. Sindh, ruled by PPP, received 84,000 doses of the vaccine, Punjab 70,000, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 65,000 and Balochistan 10,300 doses, the official data said.

 

Pakistan received the Chinese Covid-19 vaccine on February 1. Thousands of frontline health workers from both public and private sectors are being inoculated first. They will receive the BBIBP-CorV vaccine developed by Chinese firm Sinopharm. The vaccine proved very successful in Pakistani trials.

 

Dr Rana Imran Sikander, the head of the Covid-19 war at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), became the first person to receive the vaccine in Pakistan. He was administered the vaccine on Tuesday in the presence of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

 

Dr Faisal Sultan, the special assistant to the Prime Minister on health, said that the Sinophram vaccine was trusted and good. He remarked that it had an efficacy of 79% to 86%, adding that it will be administered to people in Egypt, Hungary and China as well.

 

CM Murad Ali Shah said he had high expectations of the Chinese vaccine. “The briefing that I got about the vaccine makes it among the top defence against the Covid-19. I am sure it will give us the best results,” he remarked. He said aid from China must be utilised to achieve the objective of defeating the coronavirus.