Pakistan crosses major milestone: 100 million fully vaccinated

Pakistan has crossed a major milestone, having fully vaccinated 100 million people against COVID-19.

On March 6, the country’s Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Asad Umar revealed in an announcement made via Twitter that, “More than 127 million have received at least one dose. We are very close to achieving vaccination of all eligible citizens.”

Major milestone reached in national vaccination drive. 100 million Pakistani's are now fully vaccinated. More than 127 million have recieved atleast one dose. We are very close to achieving vaccination of all eligible citizens

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) March 6, 2022

According to statistics, 216 million doses have been administered so far, with 127 million receiving one dose, 100 million being fully vaccinated and over 4 million inoculated with booster shots.

This is notably an important milestone as Pakistan gears to fully vaccinate the eligible population by year-end.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the milestone, Minister Asad said, “Thank God, we have succeeded in administering 10 million vaccine (doses)."

"Our target is to vaccinate up to 70 million people by the end of this year."

Although Pakistan initially faced vaccination hesitancy as well as a shortage of supplies, the country had commenced a mass vaccination campaign in late February, to inoculate its eligible population.

Additionally, the minister urged the citizens to get vaccinated as early as possible to help restore normal life and business.

"The more quickly we vaccinate the more quickly we get rid of this pandemic," he said

The country’s Finance Ministry said in a statement that the Economic Coordination Council (ECC) "expressed the government's commitment to provide $1.1 bln for procurement of COVID-19 vaccine."

The statement noted that the finances will be spent on vaccinating between 45 million and 65 million eligible adults.

On March 2, Wednesday, the ECC approved USD 7 million in funding. This was in addition to the 130 million sanctioned in May 2021.

Moreover, it further revealed that the vaccines will be procured by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), which is run by the military.

The majority of vaccine supply for Pakistan has been coming from China, with three out of the six approved vaccines coming from Chinses producers: Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSinoBio.

The country has secured over 10 million doses as donations and purchases and has also commenced production of the single-dose Chinese CanSinoBio vaccine.

According to the latest updates by the government, within the last 24 hours, Pakistan reported 378 new cases, 9 deaths and 778 people are undergoing critical care.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, over 1.5 million tested positive and 1.4 million recovered. Meanwhile, 30,281 people succumbed to the disease.