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Pakistan says coronavirus vaccine will be available by March 2021

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Islamabad, Pakistan - Dr Faisal Sultan said the government is assessing which candidate is most effective before buying it.

Published: Sat 12 Dec 2020, 1:25 AM

Updated: Sat 12 Dec 2020, 6:38 AM

  • By
  • Web report

The Pakistan Ministry of National Health Services has announced that the coronavirus vaccine will be available in Pakistan by March 2021.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, in an interview with a local news station, said that the government has finalised the procedure for procurement of a vaccine.

The SAPM said that in order to buy the vaccine, they would see which candidate is the most effective.

Dr Faisal Sultan said as per the proposed plan, the vaccine will be made available in Pakistan in March 2021, adding that the government was speaking with many different countries in this regard.

Also read: Pakistan PM Imran Khan vows to unlock untapped tourist potential of mountains

“Some aspects of vaccine procurement are a bit difficult to decide,” Dr Sultan said, adding that a government committee will make a final decision on the purchase of a vaccine after considering the views of experts.

Furthermore, as reported by Profit by Pakistan Today, he said that the vaccination campaign would be carried out in three phases.

“In the first phase, medical staff will be vaccinated, while in the second phase, people over the age of 60 will be vaccinated. In the third phase, vaccine would be available to the general public.”

The Pakistan government will provide the coronavirus vaccine free of cost to its people and plans are afoot to start the immunisation drive by April next year, officials had said on December 3.

Parliamentary secretary on health Nausheen Hamid said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government has approved funds to purchase the vaccine doses.

"The PTI government will provide the coronavirus vaccines free of cost to the people. The government will start the vaccination from the second quarter of 2021," Hamid tweeted.

Hamid said the phase III of clinical trials of Chinese vaccines was proceeding well and the shots would be available to the people soon.

Pakistan's Cabinet had previously approved $150 million (Dh584 million) to purchase coronavirus vaccines.

- With agency inputs



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