The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said that the players and support staff have received the first jabs of the vaccination against COVID-19. The drive has been a collaboration between Pakistan government’s National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the PCB said.
57 men players, 13 officials of the men’s team and 13 NHPC men and women coaches have been vaccinated in the first phase.
Apart from PCB officials, franchise players and support staff were involved in the vaccination drive that was held in the February-March phase of the Pakistan Super League. The drive began on March 4 in Karachi and was carried for two months before getting concluded on May 6.
“… we requested the NCOC for vaccines during the HBL Pakistan Super League 6. The vaccination drive started in Karachi and our first priority was to get the players and support staff involved in the tournament vaccinated,” PCB Chief Operating Officer Salman Naseer said in a statement.
“After the initial round of vaccination in Karachi, we focused on getting the remaining members of the men’s squad, who were not involved in the PSL 6, vaccinated before the tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe.”
Naseer further said that the PCB is with the government. “The PCB is fully behind the government’s vaccination drive and once again urges people across Pakistan to get vaccinated in order to ensure the health and safety of their own selves and their families,” Naseer said.
The Pakistan cricket team is presently in Zimbabwe. They first won the three-match T20I series 2-1 while lead the two-match Test series 1-0.