COVID-19 vaccination figure reaches 164,168 per day

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination on Tuesday said that the per day figure of COVID-19 vaccine for citizens had reached to 164,168 against the previous number of 150,000.

According to an official of the ministry of National Health Services, the target was to reach 300,000 vaccinations daily in the country while the total vaccine administered till now was 2,766,108.

He said that the government had started vaccination for 40 years and above and in this regard, the registration was opened last week.

He said that the government had planned to vaccinate 70 million population by the end of the year 2021.

He said, at present the eligible population of Pakistan for vaccination is 100 million out of 220 million.

He added for the first half of the year, January to June 2021,

The government have received 19.82 million doses in the first half of the starting from January to June 2021, he said adding that 91% of these doses were purchased.

“We have signed deals for over 30 million doses and we have already secured 30 million doses and will continue to procure more in the rest of the year.”

He said that Pakistan will become largely self-sufficient in meeting its COVID-19 vaccine needs as it will begin producing the single-dose CanSino Bio vaccine locally.

He added due to the agreement on technology transfer, the National Institute of Health (NIH) will be able to produce three million doses per month which will significantly reduce the country’s dependence on other countries.

The official said, “Our procurement is a result of proactive efforts. The government initiated the conversation with vaccine manufacturers and GAVI in July 2020 which is well before any vaccine had been fully developed and approved.”

He said that the Economic Coordination Committee approved $150 million dollars for vaccine procurement on November 20, 2020, while the Cabinet confirmed this on December 1, 2020.

He said that it was important to note that vaccines did not get approved for use until mid or late December as Pfizer approved on December 11, 2020, AstraZeneca approved on December 30, 2020, while Sinopharm was also in late-stage Phase III trials in December.

He said that manufacturers like Astra Zeneca and Moderna have been unable to meet demand while some of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturing countries have imposed embargos on exporting vaccines until their local demand is met.

He said that the government is proud of its accomplishments especially considering the serious global supply issue when some of the richest countries like Australia and Canada had to slow down or halt their vaccine roll-out.