Govt to provide free COVID-19 vaccine to people: Sultan

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Health Dr Faisal Sultan on Wednesday announced that the government will provide COVID-19 vaccines free of charge to the general public across the country.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Dr Faisal Sultan 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) approved AstraZeneca and Sinopharm’s vaccines for emergency use in the country, he said, adding that Pakistan would initially procure over 20 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines.

Dr Faisal Sultan, however, 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.

Earlier on January 19, Prime Minister Imran Khan had chaired a meeting on the coronavirus situation in Pakistan and the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.

The cabinet committee, formed on the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, had briefed the prime minister about the recently approved Covid vaccines in the country.

The committee had briefed the meeting that the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had approved two Covid-19 vaccines – China’s Sinopharm and Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in Pakistan.