Oversight Committee formed for corona vaccine procurement

ISLAMABAD: A special cabinet committee, headed by Federal Minister Asad Umar, has been constituted for procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine, quoting sources ARY News reported on Monday.

The five-member committee of the Federal Cabinet have Fawad Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar, Sania Nishtar and Dr. Faisal Sultan as other four members, according to sources.

The special cabinet committee will function as an oversight body for procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine, sources said.

According to sources, the committee’s decision will be final and it won’t require an endorsement from the federal cabinet.

The objective of formation of a special committee is to ensure transparency in procurement of the vaccine, sources further said.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan Sunday said that the coronavirus vaccine is likely to be available in Pakistan in February or March next year.

Talking in ARY News talk show ‘Sawal Yeh Hai’, Faisal Sultan said that the vaccine to be administered to people in phases, adding that the COVID-19 vaccine, in the first phase, will be administered to health professionals.

The federal cabinet had allocated funds for the vaccine, he said and added that they will finalize a suitable coronavirus vaccine within next few weeks.

The government will import the COVID-19 vaccine and provide it free of cost to the people, said Faisal Sultan.

It is pertinent to mention here that with countries world over scrambling to buy coronavirus vaccines that have been found to be effective at preventing the infection, Russia has offered to supply its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a letter to this effect along with data on the vaccine’s clinical research and trials from the Russian Embassy in Islamabad.