NCOC lowers age limit for COVID-19 booster jabs

• NCOC announces individuals aged 30 years and above can now get a booster shot of their own choice from January 1, 2022.
• Releases latest vaccination statistics, saying 713,582 people were vaccinated overnight.
  
• Says recent vaccinations pushed country's tally of vaccinated individuals to 141,509,339, which constitutes 58% of Pakistan's population.

The National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) announced on Monday a decision to lower the age limit for the administration of COVID-19 booster jabs.

Individuals aged 30 years and above are now eligible for the administration of a COVID-19 booster dose and can get a booster shot of their own choice from January 1, 2022, a statement issued by the principal body governing the policies and implementation of the national COVID-19 effort of Pakistan.

The forum also released the latest vaccination statistics, saying 713,582 people were vaccinated overnight, pushing the country's tally of vaccinated individuals to 141,509,339, which constitutes 58% of Pakistan's population.

The NCOC statement said that Monday's meeting of the NCOC decided to take strict measures to implement mandatory vaccine administration.

The meeting discussed the epidemic curve chart data, national vaccine strategy and disease prevalence in the country. It also reviewed the vaccination targets for each of the provinces and efforts to achieve these targets.

Citing global figures of Omicron infections, the NCOC urged the masses to ensure complete vaccination to keep safe from the new strain.

"Omicron variant has been reported in 95 countries while 58,000 cases have been confirmed in Europe, which is the epicentre of the strain with UK and Denmark having the highest number of cases. A total of 149 confirmed cases of Omicron have been reported so far in India," the statement read.