Pakistan lowers booster dose age limit as Omicron pushes infections

• Citizens above 18 years can now get the booster shot.
• Booster to be administered six months after complete vaccination.
• Pakistan has so far fully vaccinated over 76 million people.

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Friday announced all citizens above 18 years can get the coronavirus vaccine's booster jab, as the Omicron variant pushes infections across the country.

The free booster dose will be administered to people after a six-month gap from when their vaccination was completed.

Pakistan had first started administering booster doses from December 1, 2021, for three groups — healthcare workers, individuals above the age of 50, and those having a weak immune system — and later, the age was lowered to 30 years and above on Dec 20.

NCOC's website shows that the country has administered more than 166 million vaccines — over 76 million people are fully vaccinated, while more than 101 million are partially vaccinated.

Pakistan's COVID-19 positivity ratio jumps over 7%

The development comes after Pakistan's coronavirus positivity ratio jumped over 7% as the country reported 3,567 new cases — the highest since September 10, 2021 — in the last 24 hours, the NCOC's data showed Friday morning.

The NCOC said 48,449 tests were conducted across the country, and 3,567 infections emerged, taking the positivity ratio to 7.36%. The country last reported an infection rate of 6.64% on August 31, 2021.

With the new infections, the overall tally has risen to 1.315 million, while seven more deaths have taken the death toll to 28,999.

Meanwhile, Karachi's coronavirus positivity ratio reached 28.80% in the last 24 hours, according to NCOC's data released this morning — slightly lower than 31%, which was recorded on Thursday when 1,940 people were testing positive for the infectious disease,