-70 Levies personnel suspended for not getting Vaccinated
From Abid Usman
LAHORE: The Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SH) Punjab on Thursday rejected media reports claiming wastage of more than 38,000 Covid-19 vaccines “due to non-provision of the optimum ‘temperature at storage”.
In a statement, Secretary P&SH Sarah Aslam said the numbers of doses being wasted during the vaccination process were being misreported by certain sections of the media. The secretary maintained that the wastage of coronavirus vaccines had been 0.37 per cent of the total supply, which she said was a “normal waste”.
She clarified that numbers of vaccines wastage being reported were actually the total figure from the last five months of routine wastage, whose data was also shared with the National Command and Operation Control (NCOC) on a daily basis.
She informed that so far 8.626 million Covid-19 vaccines had been administered in the province, and its total wastage was 38,357.
She highlighted that all cold storages in Punjab had “excellent arrangements” to store vaccines as per international standards, adding that vaccine temperature was routinely checked under the standard operating procedures.
She appealed people not to fall for false reports regarding wastage of vaccines.
“The Covid-19 vaccines are properly stored in our facilities and the same are administered to hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Sindh health department reported wastage of 19,022 doses out of the total 3.54 million vaccines utilised so far.
Meanwhile, at least 70 Levies personnel were suspended in Duki district of Balochistan for not getting themselves vaccinated against Covid-19 despite “repeated reminders”, according to a statement issued by Assistant Commissioner Habib Bangalzai.
Bangalzai said the paramilitary personnel were told to get Covid-19 jabs but they turned a blind eye to official requests and subsequent reminders.
“As a result, they have been suspended and their salaries withheld,” he added. The personnel suspended over apparent reluctance to get the vaccines include two naib tehsildars, three constables, a muharrar, and a wireless operator.
The deputy commissioner had earlier asked the levies personnel to ensure their vaccinations to protect themselves from the Covid-19.
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had on June 9 made coronavirus vaccines mandatory for all public and private sector employees, directing government employees to be fully vaccinated by June 30.
Pakistan has so far reported 958,408 Covid-19 cases with 22,321 deaths and 904,320 recoveries since the pandemic began last year.
According to the data shared by the NCOC on June 30, as many as 23 deaths and 735 more cases were reported from across the country in a single day and the number of active cases had reached 32,153. As of June 29, there were 2,201 patients hospitalised across the country and 253 of them were on ventilators.
