Pakistan hopes to procure Covid-19 vaccine by first quarter of 2021: Dr Faisal Sultan
The government hopes to procure Covid-19 vaccine in the first quarter of 2021, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr Faisal Sultan told the media on Tuesday.
Dr Sultan was responding to a question during a press conference alongside Information Minister Shibli Faraz after a federal cabinet meeting.
He further said that the federal cabinet has approved the Economic Coordination Committee's (ECC) recommendation to allocate $150 million to acquire a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
The SAPM said that the government will consider multiple factors before procuring a vaccine, which include: type of vaccine, efficacy and storage requirements. He added that several companies that are working on the development of a vaccine have been shortlisted and initial negotiations have started.
According to Dr Sultan, the vaccine will be administered to the Pakistani population in stages: frontline healthcare workers will be the first priority; in the second stage, the elderly and at risk-population, in addition to other healthcare workers, will get the vaccine; and the common public will receive the vaccine in the third stage.
He said the stages for vaccine administration were decided according to the risk faced by each population group.
The prime minister's aide said that while $150m has been approved for vaccine procurement, the authorities will request the government to approve more funds if required. The federal cabinet was also requested to constitute a committee comprising four or five members to oversee the procurement of the vaccine in order to ensure transparency.
Meanwhile, the price of remdesivir, a drug used to treat Covid-19 patients, has also been slashed, Dr Sultan said. Responding to a question regarding World Health Organisation's recent findings on remdesivir, Dr Sultan said that the body had issued a guideline but had not banned the usage of the drug.
Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri on Tuesday said that Muslims will not be able to perform Hajj in the usual manner unless the coronavirus vaccine becomes widely available.
Speaking during a morning show on Geo News, the minister said that the government of Saudi Arabia has made it very clear that it will only allow Hajj to take place under the Kingdom's coronavirus safety protocols.
This year, the number of pilgrims performing Hajj drastically reduced from last year's 2.5 million to 10,000 in line with Saudi Arabia's COVID-19 safety measures. Pilgrims travelling from other cities of the Kingdom to Makkah were also required to undergo a mandatory quarantine period before Hajj. About 70% of the pilgrims were foreigners residing in the kingdom, while the rest were Saudi citizens.