Pakistan plans to procure 'safe and effective' COVID-19 vaccine by first quarter of next year

ISLAMABAD: The government said on Tuesday it was hoping to procure sufficient doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the first quarter of 2021 to administer it to frontline health workers and vulnerable segments of population in the first inoculation phase.
"We have shortlisted some companies who are developing the vaccine and started initial negotiations with them," Dr. Faisal Sultan, special assistant to prime minister on healthcare, said while briefing the media along with the information minister, Senator Shibli Faraz, on decisions taken in the federal cabinet.
Sultan said the vaccine's procurement, supply, storage requirements and administration to the public were discussed in the cabinet meeting that was chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier in the day.
The federal cabinet approved the Economic Coordination Committee's recommendation to allocate $150 million to acquire the vaccine from international companies, he said, while declining to name the firms the government was negotiating with.
"We are hopeful to purchase safe and effective vaccines from the manufacturers in the first quarter of the next year," he said, adding these vaccines would be administered "free of cost" to people in different stages.
Sultan said the cabinet was also requested to constitute a four-member committee to oversee the procurement process and ensure transparency.
The government also expects to receive free COVID-19 vaccine doses from GAVI, the vaccine alliance, to immunize 20 percent of its population, Dr Malik Mohammad Safi, director general for health at the Ministry of National Health Services, told Arab News last month.
"We have signed an agreement with GAVI to get 90 million doses for 45 million people, and this is expected to be delivered in the third quarter of the next year," he informed.
Safi said two doses were required to inoculate one person, and each dose was estimated to cost about $10, but "we will be getting it for free from GAVI."
GAVI is a public-private partnership that helps provide vaccines to developing countries.
A total of 92 low and middle-income countries, including Pakistan, will be able to access COVID-19 vaccines through GAVI's COVAX Advance Market Commitment. GAVI's goal is to supply two billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021.
Pakistan has been struggling to stem the spread of COVID-19 since February. Apart from testing, tracing and imposing lockdowns, the country has also participated in phase 3 trials of a Chinese vaccine.