Full vaccination mandatory for students from November 30: Dr Faisal

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan has said that from November 30, full vaccination will be mandatory for students (aged 12 and above) across the country.

Addressing a presser on Friday, the SAPM also said that from October 31, partial vaccination will be mandatory for children to attend their respective educational institutions, urging them to get vaccinated.

"No one will be allowed to attend schools after November 30," he said.

The SAPM said that children have suffered during the pandemic with educational institutions being reopened and closed as per the coronavirus situation. "Their learning has also been affected," the SAPM said.

He emphasised the importance of getting the children vaccinated, stressing that the approved vaccines are safe and will help prevent the spread of the virus.

Last month, expanding its vaccination drive, the government had announced its decision to start vaccinating citizens aged 12. The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said that the Pfizer vaccine will be administered to those who are below 18 years of age.

Moreover, the forum also decided that immunocompromised individuals between 12 and 17 years of age will also be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine.

Meanwhile, talking about Pakistan's vaccination drive, the SAPM said that over 60 million have been fully as well as partially inoculated against Covid-19. Dr Sultan said that so far, over 90 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered across the country.

NCOC allows resumption of normal classes across all educational institutes

On Thursday, the NCOC had announced that all educational ins­ti­tutions will reopen for normal classes from October 11.

“Based on the reduced level of disease spread and the launch of the school vaccination program, it has been decided in today’s NCOC meeting to allow all educational institutions to start normal classes from Monday the October 11,” head of NCOC Asad Umar tweeted.

Pakistan reports less than 1,000 Covid-19 cases

Meanwhile, the country reported less than 1,000 cases for the first time in three months after 912 people tested positive. During the last 24 hours, 45,619 tests were conducted while the positivity ratio was recorded at 1.99%.

Moreover, the country lost 26 more people to the novel virus, taking overall death toll to 28,058.

On the other hand, 1,633 people have recovered from the deadly virus during the last 24 hours. The total number of recoveries has now increased to 1,184,527.