Pakistan to get 3mln doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from US: official

The United States will ship just over 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan via the COVAX global distribution program on Tuesday, bringing the total number of doses sent to Pakistan to around 8.5 million, a White House official said.

Scientific teams and legal and regulatory authorities from both countries worked together to ensure the prompt delivery of the 3,006,900 vaccine lots made by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, the official said.

“The Biden-Harris administration understands that putting an end to this pandemic requires eliminating it around the world,” the official said.

The shipment is part of a US vaccine diplomacy effort that has sent vaccines to dozens of countries. The doses will be delivered through the COVAX program, run by the World Health Organization, the official said.

The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday also gave full approved Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine.

The Covid vaccine, which may now be marketed under its brand name Comirnaty, is the first to receive full approval.

The decision to award it approval was based on updated data from the drug’s clinical trial, including a longer duration of follow-up, with safety and effectiveness evaluated among more than 40,000 people.