US President Joe Biden’s administration will ship 2.5 million doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine to Pakistan, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said.
The White House earlier this month laid out a plan for the United States to donate 80 million surplus Covid-19 vaccine doses to the world by the end of June.
“I wanted to note for all of you that, today, thanks to the President’s commitment to playing a leading role in ending the pandemic everywhere, 2 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine will begin to ship to Peru from the United States, and 2.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine will ship to Pakistan,” Psaki told a press briefing.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is announcing the distribution list for 55 million of the 80 million doses of America’s own vaccine supply President Biden has pledged to allocate by the end of June in service of ending the pandemic globally,” the White House had announced on June 21. “For these 80 million doses, the US will share 75 percent through COVAX and 25 percent will be targeted to help deal with surges around the world.”
Early this month, on June 19, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) delivered a shipment of emergency medical supplies to Pakistan, including one million pieces of critical personal protective equipment to help protect Pakistan’s frontline health care workers and medical professionals.
According to the US embassy, since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, the “United States has delivered $ 49.7 million in assistance through our partnership with the government of Pakistan.”
Pakistan has so far fully or partially vaccinated almost 15.5 million people, mostly with the Chinese Sinopharm or Sinovac jabs.
Separately, expressing satisfaction over availability of Covid-19 vaccine in the country, the National Command and Operation Centre on Tuesday discussed the rollout plan for three million doses of Sinovac procured from China for the month of June.
The session, chaired by National Coordinator Lt Gen Hamood-uz-Zaman Khan, was attended by Special Assistant to Prime minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, NDMA Chairman Lt Gen Akhtar Nawaz Satti and other concerned officers.
The forum was apprised that Pakistan has so far received 21.13 million doses of different types of vaccines, of which over 17 million doses were procured on payment.
The NDMA chairman briefed the meeting’s participants on the efforts to procure vaccines out of the allotted budget of $1.2 billion.
The forum expressed satisfaction on the availability of vaccines in the country. It was also reiterated that all federating units can procure vaccines at their end.
However, the participants expressed concerns over the rising positivity of disease in Gilgit-Baltistan and emphasised on stringent implementation of SOPs with regards to tourism in the northern region.
It was reiterated that federating units have the discretion of planning summer holidays in their respective education institutions in view of their situation.
