Pakistan receives 3 million doses of Moderna vaccine

Pakistan received on Monday three million doses of the Moderna vaccine donated by the US via the COVAX facility.

In a statement, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said that with the new consignment, COVAX has delivered a total of 5.5 million doses to Pakistan.

Since May 8, a total of 8 million doses have been shipped to Pakistan including 2.5m doses of AstraZeneca, 100,000 doses of Pfizer and 5.5m doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, the press release said.

"The doses will support Pakistan's ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive," UNICEF said.

Pakistan has successfully vaccinated over 25 million people against the novel coronavirus as the government looks to increase the pace of its inoculation drive.

“Total vaccinations carried out so far now exceed two and a half crores. The total number of people vaccinated has now crossed 2 crores,” Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar announced on Sunday.

Covid-19 vaccination certificate mandatory for domestic flights from Aug 1: NCOC

Although Pakistan has picked up its pace of vaccination, it still lags behind having administered over 10 doses per 100 people at a time when the global average has gone up to 48, according to the latest available data.

In addition to making Covid-19 vaccination certificates mandatory for domestic flights from August 1, official quarters have also warned of blocking mobile phone numbers and National Identity Cards (NIC) if citizens do not get their inoculations registered.