Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan has stated today that Pakistanis going to Saudi Arabia can receive the AstraZeneca shot after giving official papers at the major vaccination centers.
Pakistan’s top health official shared that the government will be overviewing course of action regarding the AstraZeneca vaccines and will let people who are 18 or older to get the shot which was earlier limited to those aged above 40.
Demonstrations had emerged all over Pakistan demanding the government to permit the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Saudia has only permitted Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, whereas in Pakistan, Chinese vaccines are generally being given.
The SAPM said that Pakistanis who are going to Saudi Arabia can receive the Oxford vaccine after presenting their papers, further mentioning that the government is contacting the Saudi health officials to permit Chinese vaccines.
Back in May, the Pakistani health officials had constrained the use of Oxford for people below 40.
“(On the recommendations of an expert committee), we have updated the interim guidelines (for the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine AZD1222) today. There are two key changes: Use among less than 40 years be restricted irrespective of gender (till the availability of further data). 2. Interval between doses fixed 12 weeks instead of range of 8-12 weeks mentioned in an earlier version,” Director General Health Pakistan Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar mentioned.
