Pakistan’s first drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination centre opens

Islamabad: Pakistan’s first drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination centre has been opened in Lahore city of country’s most populous Punjab province.

The facility located at Nishtar Park sports complex will remain open seven days a week, from 8pm to 2am on weekdays and 5pm to 2am on Saturday and Sunday, with the capacity to cater to a large number of people at a time.

This first of its kind facility is the joint initiative of the Lahore administration and the Bank of Punjab (BOP). Lahore Deputy Commissioner (DC) Muddassir Riaz Malik said the facility is a major step toward fully reopening the city and resuming economic activities after mass vaccination. The facility would help the Lahore administration achieve its “target of vaccinating around 7 to 8 million people in the next six months” as only a higher vaccination rate would make full reopening possible. He vowed to open more drive-thru vaccine centres in other areas of the province to facilitate people.

afar Masud, CEO and President of BOP, who jointly inaugurated the facility, said the bank offered complete infrastructure support for the facility to contribute to the national efforts against the pandemic. The facility became operational in a record three days. “This is an important step to meet the national target of vaccination and to end the pandemic. It is vital that everyone gets vaccinated at the earliest because it is directly linked with the normalisation of business and economic activities” and to carve a path towards normalization, Masud said.

The Pakistani government has also launched a limited number of mobile coronavirus vaccination vans to reach some of the country’s most vulnerable residents, particularly senior citizens and people with disabilities.

Pakistan has witnessed a significant decline in coronavirus cases this week. Schools have been reopened in several regions and coronavirus guidelines relaxed as the virus positivity rate in the country dropped to 2.95 per cent on Tuesday.

Pakistan reported 1,383 new infections and 53 fatalities in the past 24 hours. This is the lowest daily count since March 8 when the country reported 1,353 infections. The total number of infections in the country is now 935,013. More than 9.2 million vaccine doses have been administered as of June 8. At least 248,861 people received their COVID-19 jabs in the past 24 hours.