A large consignment of ChineseCoronavirus vaccine is awaiting approval of Drug Regulatory Authority (DRAP) for release and lying useless for the last 10 dayshere at a warehouse.
The single-dose Convidecia vaccine was imported by private company AJM Limited in Pakistan.
An official of the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said, “This shipment was to be supplied to three hospitals in the country, but it has not yet been released by the DRAP due to red-tapism,”.
The federal government also purchased 60,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine last month, which are currently being used to inoculate the elderly and disabled.
So far, Pakistan has vaccinated 1.4 million of its population – mostly with China’s Sinopharm vaccine – while 20,000 people have so far been inoculated with privately imported Sputnik V vaccine, officials said.
The National Health Services official blamed DRAP for the delay in release of the coronavirus vaccine consignment and said it did the same when 50,000 doses of Russian vaccine Sputnik V arrived in the country and remained in cold storage for over a month due to controversy over its pricing.
