“Govt. Not relying on donations, 90% of vaccine doses being purchased”: Dr Faisal Sultan

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Health Dr Faisal Sultan has on Monday (today) said that vaccination of people above 40-years of age begins today.

Speaking to media officials in Islamabad, Dr Faisal said that the government has attempted a well thought out strategy to obtain the vaccine and deals for around thirty million doses have been signed.

He said, “One hundred and fifty thousand vaccines are being administered on daily basis and our target is to take to three hundred thousand.”

“Nineteen million doses will be received by June this year.  He clarified that we are not relying on donations but 90% of the vaccine doses are being purchased,” he added.

Dr Faisal Sultan said that seventy million people will be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of 2021 in Pakistan.

“Three million doses of this vaccine will be prepared at the National Institute of Health per month. This will reduce our dependence on the imported doses,” the SAPM further said.

Moreover, Dr Faisal Sultan also urged the people to continue adhering to the SOPs in order to battle this ongoing pandemic.

Earlier, Dr Faisal had announced that the government will provide COVID-19 vaccines free of charge to the general public across the country.

He had said that they were devising a mechanism for the provision of the vaccine to the people.

After clinical trial, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had approved AstraZeneca and Sinopharm’s vaccines for emergency use in the country, he said.

The health minister further added that Pakistan would initially procure over 20 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines.

Dr Faisal Sultan, however, had said that Sinopharm’s efficiency was 80 per cent. He further said that the government will provide 1 million doses of the vaccine to the general public during the first quarter of the current year.

In the first phase, the coronavirus vaccine will be provided to healthcare workers and people over 60 years of age, he added.

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