Pakistan to vaccinate over 100,000 people every day: Fawad Chaudhary

Pakistan will vaccinate over 100,000 people against COVID-19 every day in the coming days, Federal minister for science and technology Fawad Chaudhry said on late Wednesday.

In a twitter message, the minister informed that the country’s immunisation capacity will increase soon and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will also be available in a few weeks.

Around 40,000 health workers would receive the shot on the first day, Chaudhry said.

The nationwide vaccination drive to inoculate frontline health workers started yesterday, where China-made Sinopharm vaccine is being used in the first phase.

The vaccine, which is a gift from China, was distributed among Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan.

Sindh received 84,000 doses of the vaccine, Punjab 70,000, KP 65,000, and Balochistan 10,300 doses.

Earlier, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar had announced that the country will receive 17 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from COVAX in the first half of 2021.

The Astra-Zeneca vaccine is one of the four vaccines approved for emergency use in Pakistan. Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V will also be available here soon.

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan has authorised pharmaceutical company AGP to import the vaccine.