ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities are negotiating with China and Russia, among other nations, to procure a vaccine for the coronavirus, Pakistan’s health chief told international media on Monday. 

A government portal said Pakistan had 420,294 infections on Monday, with 8,398 deaths. 

“We are in talks with China, Russia and some other countries for procurement of the [Covid-19] vaccine after narrowing down our priority list,” Dr. Faisal Sultan, special assistant to the prime minister on health, told a foreign news agency.

The vaccine would be available in Pakistan between January and March next year, he said, and would be administered to health workers and senior citizens in the first phase.

“There is nothing final yet; however, I can tell you that we have to rely on more than one source,” the adviser said. “We will procure the vaccine only after its efficacy and safety is proven.”

While Russia has started the distribution of its Sputnik V COVID-19 shot nationwide, China is testing its vaccines in many countries, and supply deals are being signed. Other vaccines seeking emergency use authorization include those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca.

Islamabad has earmarked a sum of $150 million to purchase vaccines, officials told Arab News last month.

Last week, Nausheen Hamid, Pakistani parliamentary secretary on Health, said the government would launch a free COVID-19 vaccination drive in the second quarter of 2021.

Speaking to a private TV channel, Hamid said phase 3 clinical trials of a Chinese vaccine were ongoing in Pakistan and she hoped it would be available to the public “once its efficacy was proved.”

She said the government would consider multiple factors before procuring a vaccine, including the type of vaccine, efficacy, safety and side effects, storage requirements, cost, production capacity of the manufacturer and whether Pakistan had access to procure it.

Hamid said Pakistan had signed up for the UN’s Covax Facility, a global initiative aimed at equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, adding that Pakistan would buy from the Covax platforms on cheap rates.

“The Covax platform will provide a vaccine to twenty percent of the country’s population,” she said, adding that talks were underway with three companies for the purchase of the vaccine.