Pakistan Starts Vaccination Drive, Priority For Elderly

Vaccines must be shared between nations; UAE reports 2,204 new COVID-19 cases, 8 deaths; Manila police ban hugs, kisses to contain virus; Palestinian PM appeals for vaccines; antibiotics may have been overused to fight virus.

Pakistan has started vaccinating people who are 60 years old or above to protect them from COVID-19 amid a steady increase in cases and fatalities from the disease.

Pakistan is currently using China’s Sinopharm vaccine, which was donated to it by Beijing last month. Pakistan hopes to start receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine this month under the World Health organization’s COVAX Facility.

The drive will begin with a focus on the oldest people in the community, generally, over the age of 80, Health Minister Faisal Sultan said.

“We will work our way down in coming days,” Sultan told reporters.

One woman, Nilofar Minhas, 65, was happy to get her shot in the city of Karachi.

“I’m now secured against the disease,” she said. On the other hand, day two of the World Government Summit dialogues opened with a keynote speech by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health organization (WHO).

Ghebreyesus thanked the UAE government for hosting this very important meeting.