Asad Umar, Minister of Planning and Development, said Saturday that the urgency of vaccination is needed in the country to combat the advent of the Omicron variant.
“With the arrival of the omicron variant, the necessity for immunisation has become even more pressing. At least 8 crore 75 lakh Pakistanis [sic] have received at least one dosage, and 6 crore people have received the entire vaccine”, according to Umar’s tweet today.
In a press release issued on December 13, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pakistan confirmed the presence of the country’s first Omicron case.
A tweet from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pakistan stated that “the NIH has been able to confirm (through whole genome sequencing) that a newly suspected sample from Karachi is definitely the ‘Omicron variant’ of SARS-CoV2.”
The National Institutes of Health has stressed the necessity of vaccination, saying, “The importance of getting vaccinated to prevent against harmful effects of existing and novel variations is therefore highlighted.” Please ensure that you are vaccinated in accordance with the NCOC’s recommended schedule.”
“While this is the first proven case, a continuous surveillance programme of suspected samples is in place to uncover trends,” says the spokesperson.