Citizens travelling abroad or with co-morbidities receive shots of Pfizer or Astrazeneca
Zubair Qureshi
After a day of mismanagement, scuffle and panic, vaccination process went smoothly at the Mass Vaccination Centre (MVC) established at Fatima Jinnah Park (F-9 park) on Tuesday.
The District Health Officer (DHO) of Islamabad Dr Zaeem Zia along with health department senior officials oversaw administration of jabs of the Chinese as well as other doses.
A day earlier hundreds of people had gathered outside the MVC and protested non-administration of Pfizer and Astrazeneca vaccines.
However on Tuesday upon showing their travel documents, they were administered the jabs.
Officials of the capital administration said that about 3,000 people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) reached the centre on Monday to get the shots of Pfizer and Astrazeneca vaccines which are mandatory for entry in Saudi Arabia.
Due to influx, staff at the centre could only cater to the residents of Islamabad, the officials said.
The huge crowd reached the centre at a time when there were already a quite a big number of residents waiting for vaccination, making it impossible for the management to accommodate those from KP.
Left with no other option, the staff closed the doors of the centre and stopped working.
As a result, the people got annoyed and broke the glass doors of the centre and swarmed into the building.
The staff then called the police who brought the situation under control.
We have sufficient stock of vaccines and the citizens bound for travelling abroad or with co-morbidities could receive shots of Pfizer or Astrazeneca upon showing the documented evidence, said Dr Zaeem.
