Pakistan to get millions of Covid vaccine doses next weeks: reports

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan is all set to receive millions of doses of Covid vaccines starting next week as the government aimed to vaccinate 70 million people by the end of this year.

Reports in local media cited that at least 2.5 million doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine will get in the country through COVAX while another 100,000 doses of Russian vaccine are being acquired by officials via bilateral purchase.

Reports quoting an official of the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said the country has inked an agreement for the purchase of one million doses of Russian Sputnik V vaccine while three million doses of China’s Sinovac will also be received by the end of this month.

Other than these vaccines, the South Asian country will also receive over 12 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in July via COVAX.

The official further added that Pakistan has conveyed the regulatory requirements to the COVAX regarding the use of Moderna’s mRNA vaccine.

Earlier, Dr. Tahir Yaqub of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) claimed that Pakistan will soon produce its own coronavirus vaccine. He said that UVAS conducted an experiment in this regard.