ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will start getting the batches of coronavirus vaccines from COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) from this week, ARY News reported on Monday, citing sources.
Sources prior to the development told ARY News that Pakistan is likely to receive 1.2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on May 7, its first batch under the GAVI/WHO COVAX vaccine initiative.
The WHO’s institution will provide free-of-cost COVID-19 vaccines for the 20 per cent population of Pakistan and the country will get an overall 45.5 million doses. Covax is co-led by the World Health Organization, the Gavi vaccine alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
Pakistan has so far received a total of 4.06 million doses of vaccines for the novel coronavirus, according to figures reported.
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Out of this reported number, 3.5 million doses are of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. Other vaccines received include 60,000 doses of CanSino and 500,000 Sinovac vaccines – both also purchased from China.
Pakistan had purchased another 30 million doses of COVID vaccine from China that will soon arrive in the country to help in a drive to vaccinate its over 220 million population.
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Dr Faisal Sultan talking to the media today said the government has signed deals for procurement of 30 million covid vaccine doses. He said 19 million doses will be received by June this year, clarifying that the government is not relying on donations but 90 per cent of the vaccine doses are being purchased.
He said that 70 million people will be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of this year. The vaccines have been procured from Sinopharm, CanSinoBio and Sinovac, Faisal Sultan told the media.
Pakistan Covid-19 cases
The Covid-19 pandemic claimed 79 more lives across Pakistan over the previous 24 hours, raising the death toll from the disease to 18,149.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, 4,213 new infections emerged when 45,954 samples were tested during the same period. The positivity rate of new cases was recorded at 9.16%, the NCOC said.
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The countrywide tally of confirmed cases climbed to 834,146 with the addition of 4,213 new cases. Thus far, 728,044 patients have recuperated from the disease.
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