Health

KARACHI: The provincial health minister at a meeting held on Wednesday with a foreign delegation shared concern over the regional situation that might force migrants from across the border into Pakistan and create a great challenge for local authorities fighting against polio. The delegation was led by Dr Chris Elias representing the Polio Oversight Board of Bill & Melinda Gates …

ISLAMABAD: The COVID-19 has claimed 76 more lives and infected 1,303 people over the past 24 hours. According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, 76 more people lost their lives. The overall death toll has surged to 21,453, while 1,118 new infections surfaced when 43,900 samples were tested during this period. The positivity rate in the country …

ISLAMABAD: Given limited stock of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, the federal government has tinkered with its policy about who will be administered the American vaccine. They said work visa holders and students travelling abroad will not be administered the Pfizer vaccine as only Hajis and people suffering from chronic diseases will be receiving this vaccine. They said people traveling abroad will …

The Biden administration plans to donate 500 million Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doses to about 100 countries over the next two years, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The United States is likely to distribute 200 million shots this year and 300 million in the first half of next year, they said It will donate them to 92 lower-income …

Uruguay on Tuesday released real-world data on the impact of Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine among its population that showed it was over 90% effective in preventing intensive care admissions and deaths. The shot reduced deaths by 95% and intensive care admissions by 92%, and also showed 61% efficacy in cutting coronavirus infections, the government said. A total of 795,684 people …

ISLAMABAD: Giving approval to allocation of $1 billion for vaccine procurement on Tuesday, Planning Minister Asad Umar said the National Economic Council (NEC) of the cabinet had decided to frequently hold its meetings every year for evaluation of not only the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) but also the provincial Annual Development Plans (ADPs) to ensure effective utilisation of …

PESHAWAR: As the Covid-19 cases and mortalities continue to decline, the provincial government has decided to speed up vaccination and give timeline to the public servants to get inoculated besides scaling up public awareness regarding significance of shots against the virus. Health officials said that making vaccination mandatory for employees of the all departments was also part of the strategy. …

ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan records this year’s lowest positivity ratio of Covid-19, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday decided to intensify vaccination efforts by recommending the mechanism adopted for teachers’ vaccination to all other ministries as well. Also, the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) issued an advisory on Pfizer vaccine. In addition to vaccination efforts, the authorities …

Pakistan administered the 10 millionth Covid-19 vaccine dose on Wednesday, with Federal Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Minister Asad Umar announcing that the authorities aimed to inoculate 70 million people by the end of this year. Speaking at a ceremony held to mark the deliverance of the 10 millionth dose, Umar said around seven million people had been administered vaccine …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday expressed the hope that Pakistan would soon become a “polio-free” country as only one case of the paralysing disease was reported in the country during the current year. The prime minister kicked off the polio eradication campaign by administering vaccination drops to some children. He expressed satisfaction over sharp decline in new polio …