Pakistan to receive over 1 million doses of purchased Chinese vaccines

• Asad Umar says the first consignment of Sinopharm and CanSino vaccines will reach Pakistan by the end of March.
• “We have purchased one million and 60,000 doses of Sinopharm and CanSino vaccines,” Umar says.
  
• Government in talks with the same companies to purchase a further seven million doses of the vaccines, he adds.
  

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will receive its first purchase of over 1 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm and CanSino COVID-19 vaccines by the end of March, the minister in charge of pandemic operations told Reuters on Tuesday.

This will be the first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines the Pakistani government has purchased from any manufacturer for its 220 million people. Pakistan has previously relied on donations and on allocations from the World Health Organisation-backed COVAX scheme for poorer nations.

“We have purchased one million and 60,000 doses of Sinopharm and CanSino vaccines,” Asad Umar said. “We will be receiving the consignment before the end of March.”

He said the government was in talks with the same companies to purchase a further seven million doses of the vaccines.

“We want them to deliver that seven million by the end of April, but they have not confirmed this yet. They might have some supply issues,” Umar added.

Read more: $150 million budget for coronavirus vaccines can be increased: Asad Umar

Pakistan is currently vaccinating frontline healthcare workers and citizens over the age of 60 free of charge using Sinopharm doses donated by China.

The South Asian country has recently experienced a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections.

Figures updated on the national coronavirus dashboard last showed that  in the last 24 hours 3,270 new cases and 72 new deaths were recorded.

The country has so far registered 633,741 infections and 13,935 deaths.