Pakistan to procure 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by June 30

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government plans to procure 10 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of June to continue its immunization drive and approved $130 million for the purchase on Monday, local media reported, as the country recorded less than 2,000 COVID-19 cases for the first time in nearly three weeks.
Pakistan started inoculating its frontline health workers and senior citizens in February before expanding the immunization campaign to the rest of the population.
“The government on Monday approved a $130 million grant (about Rs20 billion) to purchase 10m doses of Covid-19 vaccine before June 30,” Dawn reported. “The estimated amount required to inoculate the target population of 72m million against coronavirus is $1.5 billion.”
According to official statistics, the government has administered 7,337,187 doses of various vaccines to people across the country, though only 1,985,005 citizens have been fully vaccinated until now.
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said on Monday Pakistan wanted to vaccinate the maximum number of people before the Islamic festival of Eid Al-Adha next month.
The country recorded 1,771 new coronavirus cases and 71 related deaths in the last 24 hours.
The government has set up a target of vaccinating 70 million people by the end of the year and is trying to increase the pace of its inoculation campaign.
Pakistan has so far mostly relied on Chinese vaccines to immunize its population, as well as limited doses of Russia’s Sputnik V, Britain’s AstraZeneca and America’s Pfizer vaccines.