Following warnings from the Sindh government and the National Command and Operation Centre, chaos occurred at Karachi’s Expo Centre on Saturday as people raced to get themselves vaccinated against coronavirus (NCOC).
The Expo Centre, Sindh’s largest immunisation centre, was quickly overwhelmed, and a glass door was damaged and a security guard was hurt in the commotion.
Vaccinations, on the other hand, continued to be disrupted.
The stampede today comes after the Sindh government petitioned the NCOC last week to sanction the banning of unvaccinated users’ mobile phone sims and social media accounts.
Following Sindh’s letter, the NCOC set an August 31 deadline for public-facing industries to have their employees vaccinated.
Students over the age of 18, instructors, transporters, government officials, hotel and wedding hall professionals, and law enforcement officers, according to the NCOC, must get vaccinated by the end of the month.
Hundreds of people queued outside Karachi’s vaccination centres on July 29, indicating that the threat had worked.
Meanwhile, Asad Umar, the Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives, announced today that the country has set a new immunisation record, with total inoculations surpassing 900,000 for the first time.
“To make this enormous campaign feasible,” the federal minister added, 2,600 vaccination centres and 2,979 mobile units were working across Pakistan.