Faisal says as speculation about variants continues, it's important to remember that every virus mutates and the coronavirus is not unique for doing so
Some variants increase the chance of reinfection: SAPM
According to the spokesman of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, authorities are actively engaged in contact tracing of these positive cases.
Dr. Faisal Sultan said that people of this age group can visit any nearby vaccination center with their national identity cards and mobile phones to get the jab.
While people between 40 and 50 years of age can register for vaccination by sending their CNIC numbers on 1166 via SMS.
Faisal says Pakistan Steel Mills' oxygen plant would be re-activated to meet the country's oxygen demand
The government does not rely on vaccine doses that have been received as either grants or gifts but it has also purchased about three million jabs, says SAPM
“At the same time, there is no "NOC" requirement (or any NOC pending) or bar for any provincial government to procure any registered vaccine if they are able to,” he stated.
He said that the country was going for next phase of COVID-19 vaccination as there is expectation of arrival of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in early March.
The vaccine, jointly developed by a research institute affiliated with the Chinese military, follows two competing shots from Chinese companies Sinovac and state-backed Sinopharm that showed efficacy of between 50% and 91%.
Although vaccines from Chinese developers have shown lower protection rates than some Western products.