Change in nature of coronavirus: Punjab health secy fears fourth wave of pandemic

MULTAN: Punjab Primary and Secondary Health Secretary Sara Aslam has said that 12 per cent of the population has been vaccinated in the province while the target of vaccinating 20.7 million people will be achieved by next December.

She said this while talking to journalists after presiding over a meeting and visiting the Corona Vaccination Centre at Nishtar Medical University on Tuesday. The Punjab secretary said that the process of corona vaccination was in full swing in Punjab and the vaccination target would be achieved accordingly. The government had changed the advice of Pfizer vaccine and now Pakistanis going abroad had also been allowed to get Pfizer vaccine.

She said that vaccination of 70pc of the population was necessary to protect the province from coronavirus outbreak. She said that the federal government was providing a stock of corona vaccine to all the provinces and its delivery was ensured in all the districts.

Sarah Aslam said that the change in Pfizer vaccine advice would now solve the vaccination problem of those who were going abroad, whereas previously the vaccine was being given to patients suffering from complex diseases and low immunity.

She said that the graph of corona patients was declining, but change in the nature of the virus was threatening a fourth wave of corona so the citizens should use masks and get vaccinated. Deputy Commissioner Ali Shahzad said that 353,000 people had been vaccinated against corona in the district so far. He said that the government had been asked to increase the quota of vaccines for Pakistanis going abroad according to the population of the district.