ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s federal government will not hold a monopoly on the import of coronavirus vaccines and provinces will be free to make arrangements for themselves subject to the approval of the country’s drug regulatory body, federal minister for planning, development and special initiatives, Asad Umar told local media on Saturday.

Under Pakistan’s constitution, the department of health is devolved to the provinces. On Saturday, the country’s health chief told Arab News the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) had approved a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and a Swedish multinational pharma company, AstraZeneca, for emergency use.

Umar, who serves as chief of the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) which oversees Pakistan’s coronavirus response, told Geo News that the NCOC had adopted the policy that the federal government “shall not have the monopoly to import anti-coronavirus vaccines.”

“Provinces and private entities including hospitals have been allowed to import the vaccines that are approved by Drap,” he said.

Umar said the AstraZeneca vaccine may be imported by the Sindh government if the latter could procure supplies, and said he encouraged “all provincial governments to import the vaccine from abroad.”

According to media reports, a Karachi-based pharmaceutical company, which has applied for registration with DRAP, will import the vaccine for the private sector, though its prices will be fixed by the government.

Umar said in a tweet on Sunday that 300,000 Pakistani frontline workers had been registered for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Pakistan is currently battling its second wave of the virus and recorded 2,521 new infections on Sunday, with 43 deaths, an increase from last week.

Last month, the government said it would purchase 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from China’s Sinopharm, which are expected to arrive in the first quarter of the year.