Pakistan approves procurement of COVID-19 vaccine

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's federal cabinet has approved for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccine in order to stern Covid-19 resurgence in the South Asian country, the state broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the cabinet meeting while Special Assistant on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan briefed about the current situation of coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan.

Earlier, the federal cabinet authorised the procurement of Sinopharm vaccine vaccines from a Chinese company. Pakistan hoped for its early availability from China. 

The Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chaudhry has also tweeted the development. He wrote, the Cabinet Committee has decided to initially purchase 1.2 million doses of the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinopharm, which will be provided free of cost to frontline workers in the first quarter of 2021.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) was informed that vaccine administration cells would be formed in all district and tehsil headquarter (THQ) hospitals, as well as regional health centers, to ensure immunisation at the grassroots level.

A number of countries have pre-booked COVID-19 vaccine in order to ensure timely availability of vaccines.