Govt may consider giving third dose of vaccine to elderly: SAPM.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Faisal Sultan on Monday said that the country may administer a third dose of the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine to some of its elderly population.

While referring to the practice within the United Arab Emirates (UAE), wherein a select portion of their population was being offered a third dose to boost immunity, the SAPM said that it was a good method to approach the pandemic.

'This is an important fine-tuning to their [UAE] programme that they are doing,' Dr Faisal Sultan said. 'It will be reasonable to sample similarly for us, but at a later stage.'

He remarked that Pakistan's vaccination campaign, which had started on February 2, was still in the early stages of its rollout, and stressed it was crucial for the elderly population to get its first and second dose right now.

Separately, the SAPM briefed World Health Organisation (WHO) Pakistan head Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala about the ongoing vaccination campaign in the country.

Dr Faisal, along with Dr Palitha, visited the Covid vaccination centre located at Tarlai, Islamabad, to inaugurate a special vaccination counter for senior...