Health

KARACHI: The health department on Friday notified the Provincial Vaccine Administration Coordination Cell (PVACC) after getting a commitment from the National Vaccine Task Force and the National Command Operation Centre (NCOC) for supply of the Covid-19 vaccine by Jan 15. Chairing a meeting on the subject, Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho stated that the NCOC and the National Vaccine …

ISLAMABAD: The statistics of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has shown that the coronavirus pandemic claims 71 more lives, whereas, 2,463 new infections were reported during the last 24 hours. In the past 24 hours, 71 more people succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 10,176. 2,156 patients have recovered from the virus in a day and …

vac ZURICH: The World Health Organization on Thursday listed Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, in a move seeking to speed access in the developing world. The United Nations health agency said it will work with regional partners to tell national health authorities about the two-dose shot and its anticipated benefits. The WHO established its emergency use listing …

BERLIN: BioNTech is working flat out with partner Pfizer to boost production of their COVID-19 vaccine, its founders said, warning there would be gaps in supply until other vaccines were rolled out. The German biotech startup has led the vaccine race but its shot has been slow to arrive in the European Union due to relatively slow approval from the …

KARACHI: The coronavirus pandemic, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and precautions to prevent its spread and the Covid-19 vaccine were at the fore of the media talk by former adviser to the prime minister on health Dr Zafar Mirza here on Thursday. “These days, any talk about health turns to talk about Covid-19. We have been quite lucky here in Pakistan …

ISLAMABAD: While the federal government on Thursday decided to establish Covid-19 vaccine administration cells across the country, pharmaceutical companies suggested that licences should be issued for local manufacturing of the vaccine as it may take years to import jabs for the entire population of Pakistan. Meanwhile, 2,475 new Covid-19 cases and eight deaths were reported in a single day as …

LONDON: Britain authorised an easy-to-handle coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday and decided to stretch out the time between doses to allow more people to get some level of protection faster as infections surge. The first green light for the shot dubbed the “vaccine for the world” brought a measure of hope that the pandemic could be brought under control. The vaccine …

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government on Wednesday eased off restrictions it had imposed in the wake of the spike in Covid-19 cases in the territory, particularly in the state capital Muzaffarabad and the lakeside city of Mirpur. The government had imposed complete lockdown from Nov 22 until Dec 8, almost on the previous pattern with the exception of …

KARACHI: Three female patients, who were recently tested positive for the potentially more contagious Covid-19 variant, are stable and under home isolation, health department sources told Dawn on Wednesday. The patients are aged between 19 and 37. According to the sources, the areas where they lived in are under ‘micro smart lockdown’ whereas their houses are under police surveillance. Upon contact, a …

ISLAMABAD: As the death toll from Covid-19 surpassed the 10,000 mark on Wednesday and a number of countries have pre-booked vaccines based on preliminary or incomplete results to ensure availability, a special cabinet committee decided to pre-book 1.1 million doses of vaccine from a Chinese state-owned company ‘Sinopharm’. The decision, which was made on the day when Sinopharm announced that …