ISLAMABAD: The government received a new batch of two million doses of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines from China on Wednesday amid a shortage of jabs in some parts of the country.
The National Command and Operation Centre said that the procurement was part of a planned purchase deal signed.
“These doses will be deployed to all vaccine centres across the country for which arrangements are already in place,” the body said in a statement. “The daily average administering of doses across the country will be enhanced considerably.”
The government portal on Wednesday reported 930 new infections of Covid-19 after testing 45,519 samples, receiving back a positivity rate of 2.04 percent.
The development came a day after Minister of State for Health Dr Faisal Sultan announced to have struck a deal with Pfizer to procure 13 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine.
An exact timeline was not yet available, Dr Faisal told Reuters, but said the doses would arrive by the end of 2021, under an agreement the government has made with the manufacturer.
The government faced initial vaccination hesitancy and a shortage of vaccine supply but it started a mass vaccination campaign late last month that is now open to all adults. It has relied heavily on China for vaccine supplies.
In May, Pakistan received 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine through the COVAX facility, but authorities have only administered those to people who are immunocompromised and not suitable for other vaccines.
The government launched a nationwide vaccination drive, starting with older people and frontline healthcare workers, in March. The drive began with a focus on the oldest people in the community, generally over the age of 80, and worked its way down.
Battling a third peak of the virus, the Health Department began the campaign with Chinese Sinopharm and CanSino jabs.
Private hospitals in major cities are using the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine that has been imported by a local pharmaceutical company.
Nearly 13 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered so far, with about 3.5 million people fully vaccinated, according to the National Command Operation Centre, which is overseeing the pandemic response.
Pakistan has primarily used Chinese vaccines — Sinopharm, CanSino Bio and Sinovac — in its inoculation drive and, earlier this month, began allowing those under 40 to receive AstraZeneca, of which it has a limited supply meant for people travelling to countries that require it.
Earlier this month, the government approved spending $1.1 billion on procuring vaccines, part of its goal to inoculate at least 70 million people.
According to government data, as of June 9, the country had received 14.5 million vaccine doses, of which 11.06 million had been purchased from pharmaceutical companies, while China donated 2.7 million and a consignment of 1.34 million was contributed by COVAX.
