Pakistan Secures 17 Million Doses of Made in India AstraZeneca Coronavirus Vaccine

[Zapper]

DAWN


ISLAMABAD: With a special plane expected to depart for China in the next 48 hours to bring the first tranche of Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan announced that around seven million doses of AstraZeneca would also reach Pakistan in the first quarter of the current year.

In his tweet, the prime minister’s aide said: “Happy to share that in addition to the 500,000 doses of Sinopharm, almost 7 million doses of AstraZeneca to be made available in Q1 and given to the public free of cost! Pakistan’s vaccine drive starts next week, beginning with frontline healthcare workers.”

The development was also shared by Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar in his tweet, in which he stated that the government had received a letter from Covax, saying that 17m doses of AstraZeneca would be provided to Pakistan in the first half of 2021.

“We signed with Covax nearly 8 months back to ensure availability,” the minister tweeted.




Out of the 17m doses, seven million will be available by March.

Dr Faisal Sultan, in his statement, said: “We are pleased to announce that the government of Pakistan, through Covax facility, has secured 17 million indicated doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, out of which 35-40pc (6-6.8 million) doses will be available within the first quarter and the rest in the second quarter of 2021.”

He said AstraZeneca had already been approved for use by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap), adding that distribution of the vaccine was likely to begin in February.

“Covax’s timely support and delivery of the vaccine is testament of global stakeholders’ trust in Pakistan’s preparedness for vaccine roll-out. We remain confident that we will meet our plan of largescale immunisation over the coming months this year,” Dr Sultan added.

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services, meanwhile, said the efficacy rate of Chinese Sinopharm’s vaccine was around 80 per cent but Oxford-AstraZeneca’s efficacy was around 90pc.

“Though AstraZeneca is being prepared in India, it will come through Covax, an international alliance which has announced free vaccine for 20pc of Pakistan’s population. Drap has already registered both Sinopharm and AstraZeneca,” the special assistant said.

Talking to Dawn, Asad Umar said the special plane was all set to fly to China to bring 500,000 doses of the vaccine. He said the next tranche would arrive before the country utilised the doses from the first consignment.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre’s (NCOC) statement, the forum on Saturday deliberated at length on the vaccine administration strategy and necessary measures, particularly logistics.

“All necessary measures have been put in place for vaccine storage in Islamabad and its transfer to other federating units, particularly Sindh and Balochistan, by air,” the statement said, adding that the vaccine’s nerve centre had been established at the NCOC.

Mr Umar said the Chinese vaccine would be sufficient for 250,000 healthcare workers as two doses were required for every person.

“As 400,000 healthcare workers have registered themselves, it has therefore been decided that instead of considering the population of the federating units, the number of registered healthcare workers would be considered before dispatching the vaccine. In this way, the vaccine can be dispatched for 30pc, 40pc or 50pc of the registered healthcare workers,” he said.

The minister said as it would take two to three weeks to vaccinate healthcare workers and was hopeful that the new consignment would arrive before its utilisation.

He said the second consignment could arrive from China but as negotiations were underway with multiple sources, it could also be expected from another country.

Replying to a question, Mr Umar said it had been decided to transport the vaccine to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by road and to Balochistan and Sindh through air.

On the other hand, an official of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) said vaccine availability had been made possible because of EPI’s efforts in ensuring development of a sound vaccine deployment plan.

“It was race against time and the collective hard work of federal and provincial EPI teams has made it possible,” the EPI official added.

Meanwhile, the NCOC data reported 2,183 new cases and 65 deaths from Covid-19 in a single day.

It further said 296 ventilators were in use throughout the country with the vent occupancy rate in Islamabad recorded at 38pc, followed by Multan, 37pc; Lahore, 35pc and Peshawar, 25pc. The data on beds providing oxygen showed that Peshawar was utilising 41pc of the beds, Karachi, 35pc; Multan, 34pc and Rawalpindi, 24pc.

The number of active cases in the country has been calculated at 33,439 with 2,566 patients admitted to hospitals.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2021

https://www.dawn.com/news/1604617

Khaleej Times

AstraZeneca’s Covishield made-in-India doses will be part of Pakistan’s free Covid vaccination drive under the , global Covax alliance, according to Dr Sultan


https://www.khaleejtimes.com/corona...india-made-vaccine-part-of-pakistan-jab-drive

Independent - UK

Umar said the Chinese company CanSino is also holding clinical trials in Pakistan and hoped its vaccine would also be registered next month.
He said Pakistan will get the vaccines through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, or GAVI, and other alternative international sources. The AstraZeneca vaccine is being prepared in India which has strained relations with rival Pakistan and says it will prioritize its own population.


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-pakistan-vaccine-vaccine-cases-b1788486.html

GEO TV

To a question about the delivery of the vaccine, Ghani said that he could not share the exact date as AstraZeneca was supplying it to other countries which had already booked and paid for the vaccine in advance.

“AstraZeneca has authorised to manufacture the vaccine in the Serum Institute of India, Pune, for bulk production but most of the production would be used for vaccinating a sizeable population of India before it is allowed to Pakistan. We have very good business relations with the Serum Institute of India and we would try our best to procure it as early as possible,” he added

https://www.geo.tv/latest/331040-pa...trazeneca-vaccine-at-6-7-if-govt-buys-in-bulk

 

[Kaptaan]

Just to clarify Oxford Astrazenaca is a British-Swedish company that became one of the first to get rolled out for use. The British company has insisted that their vaccine will be made available to all the world at cost price. And the British government has funded it under the Covax programme which requires the vaccine to be be available across the globe. India is merely been given contract as one of the manufacture hubs under the Covax scheme. One of the condition by British government is there should no vaccine nationalism and it is under that context the right to manufacture was given to India.

World news story

UK’s support to global vaccine facility Covax will help Pakistan’s COVID-19 vaccination programme​

The UK’s world-leading support to the global COVID-19 vaccines facility Covax will help millions of Pakistanis protect themselves against Coronavirus.


So far, the UK has committed £548m to the global Covax initiative, making the UK the largest single donor. The Covax initiative is the key way that more than 180 countries will have fair, early access to COVID-19 vaccines. The UK has also encouraged other countries to contribute over $1bn to Covax. Through the Covax facility, Pakistan will take delivery of 17m doses of the UK-developed Oxford University-Astra-Zeneca vaccine shortly, with the first 7m expected before April. The next 10m doses will come later, likely before June. This will help protect 8.5m people from the virus, which has already claimed over 12,000 lives in Pakistan.


Overall, Covax - which stands for Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility - has committed to supply Pakistan with vaccines for 45m people this year alone. Covax is an international initiative to support the discovery, manufacture and fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines for one billion people by the end of 2021.


British High Commissioner Dr Christian Turner CMG said:

The people of the UK and Pakistan have come together to fight COVID-19.

The Covax facility has been the main way the world has united to make sure all countries get the vaccines they need as quickly as possible, including Pakistan. The UK has been a world leader in supporting Covax, and Covax has committed to supplying Pakistan with COVID-19 vaccines for 45m people this year.

The UK has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Pakistan in pandemic, pivoting around £20m of UK aid to help Pakistan fight the pandemic. This includes funding the World Health Organization (WHO) since April 2020 to build laboratory testing capacity through training and provision of equipment across Pakistan.


The UK has so far pledged up to £1.3 billion of UK aid overall to end the coronavirus pandemic as quickly as possible. This includes up to £829 million for the development and distribution of new vaccines, treatments and tests, and £5 million for other critical COVID-19 research and development.


The UK is also at the forefront of efforts to drive unprecedented global collaboration and resourcing for the development and delivery of new vaccines, treatments and tests at the speed and scale required. The UK-hosted Global Vaccines Summit on 4 June 2020 raised US$8.8 billion from 32 donor governments and 12 foundations, corporations and organisations to replenish Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) funding over the coming five years. This will help support the delivery of life-saving vaccinations in 68 countries and will be integral to the distribution of a coronavirus vaccine once it is developed.

Notes to editors:​

• Covax works towards the development, purchase and delivery of vaccines to more than 180 countries. It was launched in April 2020 and is led by the World Health Organization (WHO), together with the Global Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
• The UK announced at the United Nations General Assembly in September that it would match every $4 pledged to Covax by other donors with £1 in UK funding, up to £250 million. Since then, other countries including Canada, Japan and Germany have committed funding to the scheme.
• On 4 January, the UK NHS became the first health service in the world to deploy the life-saving Oxford University-AstraZeneca after meeting strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. It is the only approved vaccine which can be stored at fridge temperatures.
• Scientists advising the World Health Organization (WHO) have recommended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in all adults – including those aged over 65. The WHO’s strategic advisory group of experts on immunisation has issued interim recommendations on the vaccine, saying the jab could be given to people aged 18 and above “without an upper age limit”.
• Current evidence does not suggest any lack of protection against COVID-19 in people aged 65 or over who receive COVID-19 Oxford University-AstraZeneca. This decision is in line with that made by the European Medicines Agency today, which have authorised COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca in people from 18 years of age – including those aged 65 and above.

 

[Kaptaan]

And please stop pasting images pretending to pass of as relevant to a story about Pakistan. The image you pasted is for Afghanistan. Any Oxford Astrazenca vaccines to Pakistan would be financed by UK and under the Covax programme. Thus not some "gifts".

First batch of Covid-19 vaccine from India arrives in Afghanistan

India’s Chargé d'Affaires Raghuram S handed over the consignment of vaccines to Wahid Majrooh, Acting Minister of Public Health

www.livemint.com

 

[Zapper]

And please stop pasting images pretending to pass of as relevant to a story about Pakistan. The image you pasted is for Afghanistan. Any Oxford Astrazenca vaccines to Pakistan would be financed by UK and under the Covax programme. Thus not some "gifts".

First batch of Covid-19 vaccine from India arrives in Afghanistan

India’s Chargé d'Affaires Raghuram S handed over the consignment of vaccines to Wahid Majrooh, Acting Minister of Public Health

www.livemint.com

Looks like you have serious comprehension issues. I used a bunch of non-Indian sources to prove pakistan is indeed receiving Astrazeneca vaccines which are manufactured in India just so your lot won't have the "disinfo" card to play

Also, no one is claiming that Covishield as an Indian owned vaccine

 

[Raptor]

Looks like you have serious comprehension issues. I used a bunch of non-Indian sources to prove pakistan is indeed receiving Astrazeneca vaccines which are manufactured in India just so your lot won't have the "disinfo" card to play

Also, no one is claiming that Covishield as an Indian owned vaccine

And that "disinfoeu" thing is also a NGO's report completely doesn't talks about Pakistani propaganda only one sided reports