Pakistan reaches 1 million shots a day after strong warnings to unvaccinated people

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan on Tuesday hit the target of vaccinating one million people a day against Covid-19.

The achievement made strides in Pakistan’s inoculation campaign just weeks before a deadline for workers in public-facing roles to obtain vaccination certificates.

The government announced last week that workers in schools, shopping malls and hospitality businesses, and the transport and air travel industries would be barred from entering public offices unless they show vaccination certificates by the end of this month.

"Happy to report that the target we had set for 1 million vaccinations in a day was crossed," Asad Umar, the minister in-charge for Covid-19 operations, said in a tweet.

Happy to report that the target we had set for 1 million vaccinations in a day was crossed yesterday with 10 lakh 72 thousand vaccinations. All federating entities contributed with punjab, sind, kp and Islamabad all doing record numbers. Amazing performance by all involved

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) August 3, 2021

Pakistan has seen an increase in coronavirus infections, fuelled by the highly transmissible Delta variant, putting its weak health infrastructure under extreme pressure.

Out of a population of 220 million, more than 31 million have received one vaccine shot, but only 6.7 million have been fully vaccinated, according to the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), a military run body that oversees Covid-19 operations.

Pakistan registered 3,582 new cases and 67 deaths in 24 hours, with more than 3,300 people in critical condition. So far 23,529 people have died of Covid-19 in Pakistan, with over one million infections.