Get it within 42 days of the first one
People across the country do not have to wait for an SMS from 1166 for their second dose of the coronavirus vaccines, said Special Assistant to the PM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan.
“You can get the second dose of the vaccine ANYTIME after the minimum time interval has elapsed,” he tweeted Monday. “Don’t need to wait for reminder SMS from 1166.”
You can get your second shot within 42 days of the first one and still mount a full immune response, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If you have missed your second shot, you should get it as soon as possible. These vaccination centres in Karachi are open round the clock.
Here are vaccine brands and their dose timelines:
Pfizer-BioNTech
Type: mRNA
Doses: 2, 21 days apart
Moderna
Type: mRNA
Doses: 2, 28 days apart
AstraZeneca-University of Oxford
Type: Adenovirus-based
Doses: 2, 4 to 12 weeks apart
Johnson & Johnson
Type: Adenovirus-based
Doses: 1
Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine
Type: Adenovirus-based
Doses: 2 , 21 days apart
Sinovac Biotech
Type: Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus
Doses: 2, 28 days apart
Novavax
Type: Protein-based vaccine
Doses: 2, 21 days apart
CanSino Biologics
Type: Viral vector, loading an antigen from the SARS-CoV-2 virus onto an adenovirus.
Doses: 1
Bharat Biotech
Type: Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus using Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell platform technology
Doses: 2, 28 days apart
Sinopharm
Type: mRNA vaccines
Doses: 2, 3 to 4 weeks apart
Pakistan has immunized over 30 million people so far. Three special PIA airplanes brought two million doses of Sinopharm from China to Pakistan on Sunday. Another batch of 1.5 million CanSino doses will arrive in the country in the upcoming week.
Experts have warned the country is battling the fourth wave of the virus. In the last 24 hours, Pakistan has reported 4,040 new coronavirus cases and 68 deaths. The infection rate has risen to 7.5%.
