Pakistan’s First Covid Vaccine Doses To Arrive Within Weeks

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan has said that during the first quarter of the year, Pakistan will receive its first batch of coronavirus vaccine directly from manufacturers and from the global COVAX network.

Geo News quoted the SAPM as saying that during this quarter, the government will order doses from more than one global supplier.

To ensure that only the most effective vaccines are ordered Pakistan will only procure vaccines that have been licensed "after evaluation of their quality vis-a-vis efficacy data" by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), Dr. Sultan explained.

In addition to procuring the drug directly, in the first quarter of the year, Pakistan will also receive the first batch of vaccines from COVAX, which is a World Health Organization led program to provide developing countries with COVID-19 vaccines.

In order to acquire and administer the vaccine, Pakistan is already introducing modalities, informed Dr Sultan. “All necessary preparations are being done to start a mass inoculation campaign within Q1. This includes infrastructure, framework, training and capacity.”

Healthcare workers dealing with coronavirus along with the people falling in age age group above 65 will be the first ones to get the vaccine.