LAHORE: Pakistan has received 14.5 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine since it kicked off its vaccination campaign in February and plans to buy and receive over 90 million more jabs to vaccinate its adult population in the second half of 2021, data from top health ministry officials showed.
Announcing its federal budget for FY2020-21, Pakistani finance minister Shaukat Tarin said the government had allocated $1.1 billion to procure coronavirus vaccines and planned to vaccinate 100 million people by July 2022. It has also set aside Rs100 billion to combat coronavirus spread in the next fiscal year.
According to data shared with Arab News by Pakistani health chief Dr. Faisal Sultan, as of June 9, the country had received 14.5 million vaccine doses, of which 11.06 million had been purchased from pharmaceutical companies, while 2.7 million were donated by China and a consignment of 1.34 million were contributed by Covax, the global dose-sharing platform for poor nations.
Last year in November, Pakistan’s government allocated $150 million to buy COVID-19 vaccines from international manufacturers. The amount has been used to buy 11.06 million doses as well as to pay transportation costs and purchase the equipment needed to administer vaccines across the country, according to Dr. Rana Muhammad Safdar, director general health in Islamabad.
As of June 8, 9.9 million doses of the 14.5 million total doses received had been administered, according to data provided by the health chief. As per a government portal, 3.6 percent of Pakistan’s 70 million adult population has been fully inoculated so far.
Of the doses administered, the majority of the people — 3,513,088 — have received a Sinovac jab, while 2,548,788 people have been given the Sinopharm vaccine, Sultan said.
There are a total 1,876 vaccination centers in the country, which the government aims to increase to 4,000 in the near future.
To date, Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital city, has vaccinated the most number of eligible individuals — 320,000 — which is 27 percent of the city’s adult population.
A majority of those vaccinated in Pakistan so far have been men, data shared by Sultan showed, with the ratio of men to women for vaccinations being 60:40.
Pakistan has already placed orders for an additional 90 million doses of the vaccine so far, the health chief added.
He said the country expected to receive 34 million doses of the China-made Sinovac vaccine this year, of which four million would arrive in June, and five million doses every month till December. Of the 26 million doses of the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine ordered, three million would arrive in June and 23 million doses between July and December.
As for the 18 million doses of the China-made CanSino vaccine, three million doses of the drug would be received every month from July to December. Of the 12 million doses of the US-made Pfizer vaccine secured, one million would arrive in July and 11 million between July to December.
Separately, Pakistan will receive another batch of 1.23 million doses of the UK-made AstraZeneca this month, donated through the Covax platform.
But an emerging concern for the government is citizens not showing up for second doses.
“Approximately 1 in 5 persons are not showing up for their second dose,” Sultan said.
Safdar, Islamabad DG health, said though there was a backlog for the second dose during May 21-30, “but people are now turning up, including those who missed their dose.”
