Karachi, 2 October 2021 (TDI/GNP): On Thursday, the United States and Sindh Government joined hands to launch an immunization awareness campaign, “Fizaaon Se Falaah Tak,” encouraging Pakistanis to get vaccinated against Covid-19. US Charge d’ Affaires Angela Aggeler launched the awareness campaign at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Karachi.
Aggeler launched the campaign in partnership with Sindh’s Minister for Health and Population Welfare, Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuhu, renowned actress Mahira Khan, and singer and humanitarian Shehzad Roy. Health Secretary Dr. Kazim Hussain Jatoi and Administrator Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab also attended the event. US Charge d’ Affaires visited Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre’s vaccination center to personally observe the US-donated Pfizer vaccines inoculations. While interacting with Pakistani citizens receiving the Pfizer vaccine, Angela Aggeler reiterated that the US stands with Pakistan to end the Covid-19 pandemic and expressed gratitude towards the healthcare workers for their role in encouraging people to get vaccinated.
On this occasion, Pakistani actress Mahira Khan joined hands with the US Consulate General Karachi to encourage the citizens to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and emphasized the significance of immunization in keeping the entire community safe; She also expressed her gratitude towards the US government for donating vaccines to Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistani Musician/Singer and UNODC Goodwill Ambassador Shehzad Roy participated in the vaccination campaign recounting a person’s story at JPMC who recently lost a family member to Covid-19 because of not being vaccinated, which eventually encouraged the person to get the Covid vaccine. He further stressed that like Polio, Pakistan must not be ‘last’ on the map with Covid-19 cases.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the United States has assisted Pakistan with around 63 million dollars in the form of vaccine donations, medical supplies, medical infrastructure, and training. So far, the US has donated around 15.8 million vaccine doses to Pakistan, besides committing to donate another 9.6 million in October. At the September Covid-19 Summit, US President Joe Biden announced his purchase of additional 500 million Pfizer vaccines to be distributed across the world, thus, bringing the total number of donated vaccines to over 1.1 billion.