Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Wednesday issued guidelines for the AstraZeneca vaccine as Pakistan all set to receive 17 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The guidelines for the AstraZeneca vaccine were issued by the national expert committee on the COVID-19 vaccine. As per guidelines, the AstraZeneca vaccine will be administered to people over 18 years of age. Citizens under 18 years of age won’t be administered the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The national expert committee on the coronavirus vaccine has advised that people suffering from fever and currently Covid positive should not be administered the AstraZeneca vaccine.
According to guidelines, a gap of 12 weeks should be given after first dose of the vaccine. Healthcare workers and citizens will receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Pakistan has secured 17 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine under the COVAX arrangement.
The first consignment of seven million doses of AstraZeneca Covid vaccine will reach Pakistan before April. The next 10 million doses of the vaccine will be dispatched to Pakistan before June. Pakistan will receive an overall 45 million COVID-19 vaccine doses under the COVAX scheme this year. The WHO has declared that AstraZeneca vaccine has been safe for people with 18 years of age to 65 years and above.
