ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will on Friday receive the first shipment of 1.2 million doses of the Oxford-Astrazeneca coronavirus vaccine under the Covax program, the global initiative to provide vaccines to countries lacking the clout to negotiate for scarce supplies on their own, a top government official said on Tuesday. 

The Covax program had committed 45 million doses to Pakistan, with deliveries meant to start in March and continue through the year. But India — the world’s second largest manufacturer of the vaccine — halted supplies to fulfill its domestic needs amid a catastrophic second wave of the virus. 

Now, the first shipment of jabs from Covax will finally arrive from South Korea, Rana Muhammad Safdar, director-general health at the Ministry of National Health Services, told Arab News. 

The South Asian nation of 220 million people plans to vaccinate at least 20 percent of its population through jabs received under the Covax program. 

“Yes, first consignment is arriving on 7th May,” Safdar confirmed. “We are committed to vaccinating our maximum population as quickly as possible.”

As of Monday, the government had vaccinated over 2.76 million people and is planning to vaccinate at least 70 million people by the end of this year, the health chief has said. 

The Covax program aims to deliver at least two billion coronavirus vaccine doses by the end of 2021 to cover 20 percent of the most vulnerable people in 91 poor and middle-income countries, mostly in Africa, Asia and Laten America. The World Health Organization (WHO) and global vaccine charities launched the program last April. 

The scheme, relied on by dozens of poorer countries, has faced setbacks: production glitches, a lack of support from wealthy nations and a recent move by India, the biggest vaccine manufacturer, to curb its exports.

Besides the WHO, it is run by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).