Islamabad (Web Desk): Pakistan has started COVID-19 booster shots for all people who are over 30 years old who have been fully vaccinated at least six months ago.
As per the reports, booster jabs including Sinopharm, Sinovac, and Pfizer will be administered free of cost.
On December 20, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) allowed booster shots for people aged over 30 years because of the spread of the Omicron variant to over 100 countries, including Pakistan.
Though it was announced that the facility of booster shots will be available from January 1, it was later decided to keep the vaccination centres closed on the first two days of the new year.
The decision was made because staff worked round the clock to achieve the target of making 70 million people fully vaccinated across the country on the last day of 2021.
Earlier, the govt had approved the jabs for those above 50 years, health workers, and immuno-compromised persons in wake of the new and more contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The booster shots may become the new condition for fully vaccinated persons to ensure protection against the deadly disease.
Earlier on Sunday, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, warned that there’s clear evidence of the beginning of the 5th wave of coronavirus infections in Pakistan saying most of the cases of the new variant are surfacing in the country’s largest metropolis Karachi.
On the other hand, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 1,297,235 on Monday after 708 new cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
This is the highest number of infections reported in a single day in the country since October 30, 2021.
As per the NCOC data, 45,643 tests were conducted in last 24 hours while positivity ratio remained 1.55%.
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 28,943 with 2 fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 1,257,168 after another 144 virus recoveries were reported.
