Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has said that Pakistan will get 6 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine by March.
In a tweet on the social networking site, Asad Umar said, “There is good news about the corona vaccine. In the second half of 2021, there will be 17 million doses of estrogen.”
Good news on covid vaccine front. Recieved letter from Covax of indicative supply of up to 17 million doses of AstraZeneca in 1st half 2021. About 6 million will be recieved by March with delivery starting in Feb. We signed with Covax nearly 8 months back to ensure availability
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) January 30, 2021
“Six million of these rations will be available by March, starting in February,” he said.
“We had an agreement with Kovacs about eight months ago to ensure the supply of the vaccine,” he said.
On the other hand, Dr. Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Health, said, “I am pleased to announce that in addition to the 500,000 doses of Cyanoform, about 7 million doses of AstraZeneca will be available to the public free of charge.”
“The vaccine campaign in Pakistan is starting with healthcare workers starting next week,” he said in a statement on Twitter.
“We are confident that we will be able to implement a large-scale vaccination plan in the coming months of this year,” he said.
Happy to share that in addition to the 500,000 doses of Sinopharm, almost 7 million does of AstraZeneca to be made available in Q1 and given to the public free of cost! Pakistan’s vaccine drive starts next week, beginning with frontline healthcare workers. pic.twitter.com/6nJACx9aL7
— Faisal Sultan (@fslsltn) January 30, 2021
Covex is an alliance of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), the Coalition for Epidemic Prevention Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO), which was formed in April last year.
The coalition is committed to providing free corona vaccine to 20% of the population in various countries, including Pakistan.
Pakistan has so far approved three corona vaccines, including Oxford-AstraZeneca, China’s Cyanoform and Russia’s Sputnik Five vaccines.
However, the AstraZeneca vaccine has been the subject of controversy as its effectiveness has been called into question, and it could face possible legal action over delays in the delivery of the vaccine to the European Union.
The Robert Koch Institute in Germany questioned its usefulness for people over the age of 65, citing data from experimental stages of the vaccine.