ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has purchased 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine doses from three Chinese companies, its de facto health minister told Reuters on Thursday.
Faisal Sultan said Pakistan had procured the vaccine from Sinopharm, CanSinoBio and Sinovac.
The purchased vaccine is expected to begin arriving in May with 6.7 million doses and the rest in June.
He didn’t give a breakdown of how many shots each were supplying, saying there could be some plus and minus for each given the pressure on companies.
“We will be continuously procuring from all available sources across the world,” he said. “For now, China remains the primary source for vaccines to meet our present and ongoing needs but all our options are open for effective and safe vaccines,” he said.
Sultan said first tranche of GAVI/COVAX program that was due early March would also be arriving to add to the latest procurement.
“We are likely to get around 2.4 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine under GAVI/COVAX over the period of May and June,” he said, adding that “the possible source for this initial tranche may be South Korea.”
COVID cases have been rising steadily in the South Asian nation of 220 million which recorded 201 deaths on Tuesday, the highest since the pandemic began.
The Health Ministry said total deaths crossed 17,680 with over 150 on Thursday with 5,480 coronavirus cases adding to a total of 815,711.
Pakistan to get 15.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in next two months — health chief
https://arab.news/zfzp4
Pakistan to get 15.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in next two months — health chief
- Faisal Sultan said Pakistan had procured the vaccine from Sinopharm, CanSinoBio and Sinovac
- He said another 2.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will arrive under the GAVI/COVAX program
Pakistanis at remote border describe scramble to leave Iran
- Returning Pakistani nationals recount missile fire in Tehran, transport gridlock as people rush to exit Iran
- PM Sharif condemns targeting of Iranian leader as embassies urge citizens to leave amid escalating strikes
TAFTANT, Pakistan: Pakistani nationals hauled suitcases across the border from neighboring Iran, describing missiles being launched and travel chaos as they scrambled to leave the country after the US and Israel launched strikes over the weekend.
AFP journalists saw a steady trickle of people passing through large metal gates at the remote border crossing between Iran’s Mirjaveh and Taftan in Pakistan’s western Balochistan province.
Powerful explosions have rocked Iran’s capital Tehran since Saturday, with embassies from countries around the world telling their citizens to leave.
“All our Pakistani brothers who were in Tehran and other cities had started to leave and were arriving at the terminal, which caused a lot of crowd pressure,” 38-year-old trader Ameer Muhammad told AFP on Monday.
“Due to the crowds, there were major transport problems.”
The isolated Taftan border lies around 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Balochistan’s capital and largest city, Quetta.
AFP journalists saw the Iranian flag flying at half-mast as soldiers stood guard.
Most people wheeled bulky luggage over the frontier’s foot crossing, while freight lorries formed a long line.
Irshad Ahmed, a 49-year-old pilgrim, told AFP he was staying at a hostel in Tehran when he saw missiles being fired nearby.
“There was an army base near the hostel, and we saw many missiles being fired,” he said.
“After that, we went to the Pakistani embassy so that they could evacuate us from there. They brought us here safely.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a “violation” of international law.
“It is an age old convention that the Heads of State/Government should not be targeted,” Sharif wrote on X.
The “people of Pakistan join the people of Iran in their hour of grief and sorrow and extend the most sincere condolences on the martyrdom” of Khamenei, he added.
A teacher at Tehran’s Pakistani embassy, who gave his name as Saqib, told AFP: “Before we left, the situation was normal. The situation was not that bad.”
The 38-year-old said the strikes on Tehran on Saturday “pushed us to leave the city.”
“The situation became bad on Saturday night, when attacks caused precious lives to be lost,” he said.
