Pakistan has decided to kick off its Covid-19 vaccination drive next week. The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) formulated guidelines for the eight-step vaccination process, Dawn reported.

“The purpose of the strategy is to vaccinate people in a healthy environment and in accordance with health guidelines through a concrete plan,” officials said, as cited in the Dawn report.

The strategy was developed after consultation with all provinces and relevant stakeholders and was according to established international health guidelines, the NCOC said in a statement.

For this, the country’s administration has established an online portal — National Immunisation Management System (NIMS) — which will be operated by the NCOC.

The statement also added that human interaction within the portal will be minimised to keep the system transparent.

Additionally, various Adult Vaccine Centres (AVC) have been established across Pakistan which will be run by the National Vaccination and Administration Control Cell (NVACC).

Coordination cells have also been established at provincial and district levels, the NCOC statement said.

Last week, the country approved the emergency use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine and the government hopes to make the drug available soon.

According to the worldometer dashboard, Pakistan has reported 539,387 coronavirus cases so far, with 11,514 deaths; while 4,94,578 have been recovered from the infection.

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