Pakistan nears deal with Indonesian firm for local vaccine production
KARACHI: Health Minister Mustafa Kamal has announced that Pakistan is close to signing an agreement with an Indonesian pharmaceutical company to set up a vaccine production plant in the country to start producing the first three vaccines locally, advancing efforts to achieve self-reliance in the immunisation medicines.
Besides, Pakistan has inked agreements with global pharmaceutical companies worth $400 million to be invested in local production of APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients/ raw material) for drug manufacturing in the country, Kamal said during his visit to the 24th Pharma Asia 2026 exhibition at Karachi Expo Centre held last week.
“Pakistan is about to sign an agreement with Bio-Farma, Indonesia, to start local production of [the first] three vaccines in the country,” the minister said.
Indonesia’s Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin has been playing a critical role in extending meaningful cooperation to Pakistan to produce vaccines locally, according to Kamal.
“An Indonesian team recently visited Pakistan, having completed inspections for local vaccine production in the country,” he said. “We will soon become capable of producing the immunisation medicines in the country, and start the production soon.”
Pakistan has been importing 13 vaccines from Indonesian state-owned Bio-Farma.
“Out of those 13 vaccines, Pakistan will start producing three vaccines locally with the help of the transfer of technology from Indonesian pharmaceutical firms to Pakistan,” the minister said.
Kamal said the government has devised Pakistan’s first vaccine policy in the recent past. “The [Federal] Cabinet has almost approved the vaccine policy.”
The minister shared that Pakistan has signed as many as eight agreements with international firms to attract a total of $659 million in investment in various fields of Pakistan’s healthcare system in a business-to-business (B2B) conference held in Islamabad some two months ago. Some 180 Chinese companies and 320 Pakistani companies participated in the conference.
Out of that $659 million, agreements worth $400 million have been signed to set up facilities for local production of APIs, as per Kamal. “They are agreements, and not the memorandums of understanding (MoUs).”
The local API production facilities would start coming online in a one-and-a-half to two-year period one by one, he said.
With a population of over 250 million people and over 700 pharmaceutical companies, Pakistan heavily relies on imported APIs to locally manufacture drugs and help people to get cured and combat diseases.
To recall, Pakistan is aiming at averting a potential medical and financial crisis by achieving self-sufficiency in vaccine production as supply of subsidised booster doses to the country from international partners comes to an end by 2031.
The country currently receives vaccines at concessional rates through global partners, including Gavi, World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Pakistan supplies free vaccinations to children against 13 diseases under its routine national immunisation programme that serves a population of nearly 250 million, including about 6.2 million children born each year.
The country currently bears around 51% of the cost of vaccine procurement – estimated at $400 million to $500 million a year – while 49% is covered by international partners. However, this support will gradually decline, and by 2030-31, Pakistan will be required to fully finance vaccine procurement on its own.
“By 2031, Pakistan will have to purchase vaccines entirely from its own resources. At that time, the estimated cost will rise to $1.2 billion annually,” Minister Kamal said in the recent past.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026