Vaccine centres in Karachi and Lahore were closed due to shortage of Covid-19 vaccinations, forced many people to return home without vaccination.
On Tuesday, due to the shortage of covid-19 vaccines, the authorities closed two vaccination centres/camps in Lahore, meanwhile, the vaccination process at the Expo Centre facility in Karachi has also been halted for the same reason.
According to the report, only a day’s stock of the Covid vaccine is left in Punjab, an official told the media. He said following the shortage of the vaccine, the health authorities have closed down the centre/camp established at the Lahore Press Club and the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) while the situation in some other centers of the city seems uncertain.
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Earlier, the Punjab government has increased the Covid vaccination centres to 657 across the province, including 57 in Lahore.
Moreover, Punjab Health Minister Prof Dr Yasmin Rashid has confirmed that the provincial authorities have stock of vaccine for three days only.
“We have 13,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine while 25,000 doses of other companies are with the Lahore deputy commissioner,” she says adding that the health department has recently distributed 1.6 million doses among districts of the province.
Vaccine shortage at Expo Centre Karachi
Sources further said that the vaccine shortage at the Expo Centre in Karachi had a ripple effect on other vaccination centres as their stocks were directed towards the mega vaccination centre.
Dr Samreen Ashraf Qureshi, the provincial focal person for Covid-19 vaccination said, “There was a brief disruption of hardly five to 10 minutes in the vaccination process at the Expo Centre as the staff had already informed about the emerging situation and supplies reached the facility in time.”
“Our main target is the Expo Centre facility. It’s the first time that the facility faced shortage of vaccines and hopefully it won’t happen again.”
