AstraZeneca seeks registration of vaccine in Pakistan: sources

ISLAMABAD: After China’s Sinopharm, AstraZeneca has also sought approval for its vaccine from Pakistan, citing sources ARY News reported on Thursday.

According to sources, AstraZeneca has applied for registration to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) through a Pakistani pharmaceutical company, sources said.

The pharma company has submitted data of the clinical trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to the DRAP, sources said.

The DRAP registration board is expected to register AstraZeneca vaccine in its ongoing session, according to sources. The registration board will remain in session until January 15, according to the sources at the Ministry of National Health.

After being registered the COVID-19 vaccine could be used in Pakistan.

AstraZeneca has been a British-Sweden joint multinational pharma company, which has produced the vaccine in collaboration with the Oxford University.

The vaccine, approved by the British Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority, is said to be effective for people of all age groups and could be stored in home refrigerators.

The DRAP registration board in its current session will also likely to approve registration of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine.

Sinopharm had recently sought permission from Pakistan for emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine in the country.

Pakistan has announced to buy 1.2 million doses of the corona vaccine from Sinopharm, a state-run Chinese firm, which is developing two COVID-19 vaccines.