ISLAMABAD: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) has planned a day-long training session in the capital on Monday, on the reporting of any COVID-19 vaccine ‘adverse events,’ the country’s state-run news agency APP reported on Sunday.
Pakistan has given approval for the use of three coronavirus vaccines-- the Chinese Sinopharm, Oxford University-AstraZeneca and Russia’s Sputnik-V, with 582 emergency vaccination centers established.
Pakistan received its first batch of 0.5 million Sinopharm vaccines as a gift from China on February 1 and began vaccinations on February 2 for frontline health care workers-- hoping to cover 70 million out of 100 million eligible people by the end of the year.
The expanded Programme on Immunization’s (EPI) will officially submit reports of any adverse events that might occur to Pakistan’s National Pharmacovigilance Center while the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) will also collect information on adverse effects. Any adverse events will be reported daily, weekly and monthly, depending on the severity of the events.
A UK government study reported on Friday that one in three people given a COVID-19 vaccine developed some mild side effects but that the vaccines were generally regarded as ‘extremely safe.’
The number of COVID-19 cases in the country reached 554,474 after 1,346 new infections were reported in the last 24 hours on Sunday, according to the ministry of National Health Services.
Another 53 patients died in this period, taking the number of coronavirus related deaths to 11,967.
