Pakistan, like the rest of the world, is in the process of being vaccinated against coronavirus, and according to the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), a coronary epidemic watchdog, more than 3.1 million people will be infected by June 17 this month.
According to official figures, people over the age of 40 have been vaccinated since the start of the corona vaccination process. Since then, there has been an increase in the number of people getting vaccinated, while queues of people at vaccination centers have been seen since the start of vaccinations for people up to the age of 18. Both doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been given to more than 6.2 million people.
However, in the last few days, there have been complaints of shortage of vaccines from other provinces, including Punjab, and those who turn to vaccination centers are being turned away. Due to shortage of vaccines in Punjab, the largest province in terms of population, the process of vaccination has been stopped at some vaccination centers.
Three vaccine centers closed in Lahore
Vaccination at three vaccination centers in the provincial capital Lahore, Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI), Lahore Press Club and at Walton Road, has been suspended since Wednesday.
According to Lahore Press Club sources, the vaccination center has been closed since June 16 on the instructions of the Director General of Health. According to sources, more than 5,000 people have so far been vaccinated against coronavirus at the Lahore Press Club Vaccination Center.
Lack of coronavirus vaccine
People who came to the vaccine center at the Expo Center in Lahore to get the first dose of the vaccine were sent back through the entrance on Wednesday, saying that the vaccination process would resume only after National Database & Registration Authority’s (NADRA) data was updated.
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According to the Punjab Health Department official, the NCOC provides three days stock of vaccines to the provinces and according to the official, the Punjab government has been meeting the daily target of 340,000 vaccines for the last several days.
In this regard, the number of vaccination centers across the province has been increased from 98 to 677 due to which the demand for vaccines has increased. However, according to the official, there is a shortage of vaccines at various vaccination centers due to non-availability of required number of vaccines by the NCOC.
Difference between the official dashboard and the number of vaccines in stock
According to the official, another reason for the shortage of vaccines is the failure of district governments to regularly update daily vaccine details on the official mobile app, COVIM.
The official said that another reason for the shortage of vaccines was the discrepancy between the number of vaccines in stock in the districts of Punjab and the data available to the NCOC on the availability of vaccines through COVIM. The required number of vaccines has not been provided by the government and now there is a shortage of vaccines.
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According to a senior government official, when his department compared the number of vaccines in stock in the districts with the number of vaccines on the dashboard, there was a clear difference.
According to official documents, the number of vaccines available in the districts of Punjab as per the dashboard on June 17 is 355,949, while the number of vaccines in stock as per the manual count is 280,034.
Vaccine Process in Punjab
According to the data released by the Punjab Department of Secondary and Healthcare, 7,420,998 rations were provided to Punjab till June 16, of which 6,644,435 have been distributed. NCOC’s job is to give the vaccine to the provinces and the job of the provinces is to further distribute the vaccine to the districts.
The health department official said that if there is a shortage of vaccines in a district, there is no role for the health department or the provincial government or the NCOC and it is up to the district government to decide which vaccination center to provide how many vaccines. Or gives the vaccine to a private company.
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On the other hand, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid on Tuesday told reporters that the news about the shortage of vaccines is baseless. She further said that the Deputy Commissioner Lahore has a stock of 25,000 doses and vaccine doses are also available in other districts of Punjab.
According to Dr Yasmeen Rashid, 240,000 people in Punjab are being vaccinated daily. However, the daily target set by the NCOC for Punjab is 430,000 doses.
Disagreements over vaccine purchase in Sindh province and the federation
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had claimed at a post-budget press conference on Wednesday that the federation was not allowing Sindh to buy the vaccine and its price was not being stated.
According to Murad Ali Shah, he was asked by the NCOC not to worry about the supply of vaccines in Sindh, but to increase the number of vaccines. And when Sindh complied with the NCOC guidelines, there was a shortage of vaccines in the province this week.
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