Chaos ensued on Saturday at Karachi’s Expo Centre after people rushed to get themselves vaccinated against coronavirus, following warnings by the Sindh government and the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).
Expo Centre — the biggest inoculation centre in Sindh — was soon overrun and during the hustle and bustle, a glass door was broken and a security personnel was injured.
Vaccinations, however, continued interrupted.
The rush witnessed today comes after the Sindh government last week officially asked the NCOC to approve the blocking of mobile phone sims and social media accounts of unvaccinated users.
Following Sindh’s letter, the NCOC on July 29, set an August 31 deadline for sectors dealing with the public to get their staff vaccinated.
NCOC said students over 18 years of age, teachers, transporters, government employees, hotel and wedding hall staffers and personnel of law enforcement agencies must get themselves vaccinated before the end of the next month.
On July 29, hundreds of people lined up outside Karachi’s vaccination centres, the threat appearing to work.
Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said today that the country had recorded another vaccination record, as for the first time, total inoculations crossed 900,000 yesterday.
The federal minister said 2,600 vaccination centres and 2,979 mobile units were operating across Pakistan “to make this massive campaign possible”.