No plan to buy vaccines anytime soon, official tells PAC

ISLAMABAD: The government has no plan to buy COVID-19 vaccines at least during the current year and aims to tackle the health challenge posed by the coronavirus through herd immunity and donated vaccines.

National Health Service (NHS) Secretary Amir Ashraf Khawaja made this announcement at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly.

National Institute of Health Executive Director Maj Gen Aamir Aamer Ikram said the cost of a single dose of Chinese vaccine Cansino is $13. He said Pakistan was relying on international donors and friendly countries, like China.

The NHS secretary informed the PAC that

Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm had committed to providing one million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, saying that 0.5m doses had been handed over to Pakistan, out of which around 275,000 doses had been administered to health professionals dealing with COVID-19 patients.

He said the second phase would cover the health officials working in other hospitals and health facilities, adding that the people aged 65 years and above could also register themselves for vaccination by sending a text message to 1166. He said Pakistan had planned to vaccinate 70 million people this year.

The secretary said Pakistan will also get 16m free doses of Indian-made Oxford-astrazeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine through Gavi that would give cover to 20 percent of the population of Pakistan.

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) is a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.

PAC Chairman Rana Tanveer Hussain asked the NHS secretary if they were waiting to get free vaccine. Khawaja replied: “We wouldn’t need to purchase much.”

The secretary said Pakistan would get the first batch of Astrazeneca vaccine made by Serum Institute of India by the middle of March and the rest was expected to arrive in the country by June.

He said vaccination of aged people was due to start by March 5; however, the consignment was delayed. He said that another Chinese company had conducted the phase-three trial of Cansino vaccine in Pakistan, adding that a total of 18,000 people were inoculated and the vaccine’s efficacy stood at 85pc.

According to the NHS secretary, the ministry had conducted a survey in June 2020 to ascertain the figures of those who have developed antibodies against coronavirus. He said the survey disclosed that around 15pc of the population has developed antibodies and that they did not need to be immunised.