Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), told Dawn News a call centre was being established to contact such people and convince them to complete their vaccination.

According to data, around 300,000 people have failed to return to receive the second dose after receiving their first dose since the start of the vaccination drive on Feb 2, the newspaper reported.

“Around 300,000 first dose recipients never showed up on their due dates,” an  official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) told Dawn News.

“We are categorising such people; there is a possibility that some of them might have died before getting their second dose. Another group which has been identified consists of those who contracted Covid-19 after receiving their first dose and then decided not to get the second one. Others might have fallen to the negative propaganda and skipped the vaccination,” he added.

A document, available with Dawn, shows that there was a huge difference between the number of people who were scheduled to get their second dose on their due dates and those who actually received it.

Pakistan has recorded 21453 deaths so far due to the deadly virus.