Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan has said that people can get the second dose of the Covid vaccine anytime after the minimum time interval has passed.
In a tweet on Monday, Sultan said people do not need to wait for the reminder message from 1166, which comes after six weeks for Sinopharm and Sinovac, and after 12 weeks for AstraZeneca.
He added that the minimum time to wait for those getting Sinopharm is three weeks while for Sinovac and AstraZeneca it is four weeks.
On August 8, a special Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane carrying 0.68 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine arrived at the Islamabad International Airport from China.
Thousands of people have thronged vaccination centres across the country after the government announced that cellphones of unvaccinated people will be blocked while they will be barred from entering grocery stores and shopping malls.
A shortage of the Sinopharm, Sinovac, and AstraZeneca vaccines has also been witnessed at some vaccination centres.
On Monday, Pakistan reported 4,040 positive infections in a single day. The country has been battling a surge in Covid cases for the past few weeks, driving up its vaccination pace and imposing stricter restrictions as the fourth wave continues in the country.
During the first wave, the active number of cases rose to as high as 108,642 on July 1, 2020. During the second wave, the active number of Covid-19 cases was recorded at 49,780 on December 1, 2020. This year, on April 30, during the third wave, Pakistan recorded 90,553 active cases.
However, from June 29, the active number of cases has jumped from 30,000 to over 80,000, with the added worry of the Delta strain in the ongoing fourth wave.
