Pakistan to receive 'Made in India' COVID vaccine under GAVI alliance

(Karachi) Pakistan is expected to receive 45 million doses of 'Made in India' COVID-19 vaccine from GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, NDTV reported on Wednesday.

As per details, Federal Secretary National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Aamir Ashraf Khawaja informed regarding the development to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Pakistan. He said that that a total of 45 million doses of vaccine would be received under an agreement with GAVI and out of those,16 million would be received till June this year.

In the first phase, India will supply 16 million free doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, which is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, helps vaccinate almost half the world’s children against deadly and debilitating infectious diseases. It had signed an agreement with Pakistan to provide COVID-19 vaccine in September 2020.

Gavi is an international organisation created in 2000 to improve access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world's poorest countries. Gavi's partners include the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the World Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and big pharma companies.

Meanwhile, the second phase of the national coronavirus vaccination drive begins on Wednesday in which senior citizens will be inoculated.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan has said that the senior citizens will be administered with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. Later, other vaccines including the AstraZeneca will also be administered