Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar on Sunday said that the government has approved procurement of the coronavirus vaccine and it would be available in the country by March.
In an interview, Asad Umar said the government has given approval of “AstraZeneca”, vaccine while discussion with a Chinese company, “Sinopharm” is also under progress.
He maintained that the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan has given green signal for importing the vaccine to protect the masses from corona virus.
The minister said that priority would be given to the provision of vaccines to health workers and the people falling between 60 to 65 years of age.
He said that around three million healthcare workers have been imparted training for anti-corona vaccination. Asad Umar said that the private sector can import the vaccine after following the necessary procedure.
Talking to a news channel, Asad Umar said that provinces and private sector are allowed to import coronavirus vaccines approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan.
He said that provinces and private entities, including hospitals, are allowed to import DRAP-approved coronavirus vaccines after following the necessary procedure.
He said the government has given approval of AstraZeneca vaccine while discussion with a Chinese company, Sinopharm, is also under progress. Asad said the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan has given green signal for importing the vaccine to protect the masses from coronavirus.
“Once a vaccine has been approved by the regulatory authority, it can be imported by provinces as well as private hospitals,” he explained. “In fact, I would encourage not only Sindh but other provincial governments to import it as well.”
Meanwhile, the latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre has shown that the Covid-19 has claimed 43 more lives, whereas, 2,521 new infections were reported during the last 24 hours.
According to the NCOC, with fresh inclusion of the infections the tally of cases now currently stands at 519,291.
