COVID-19 vaccine likely to be available in Pakistan in Feb: Faisal Sultan

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

Talking exclusively to ARY News program Sawal Yeh Hai,  Dr. 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 COVID-19 vaccine imported by the government will be provided 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 had offered to supply its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan.

Read More: Russia offers Pakistan its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine

Although the shot had not finished its final trials, the country started distributing vaccinations Saturday last.

Sources had told ARY News that Russia had offered to sell its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan as 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.

According to a clinical report that seeks to compare the vaccine candidate with other potential Covid-19 vaccines, Sputnik developed in Russia was 95 per cent effective and cheaper than other vaccines.