Former Pakistani cricketers get vaccinated for coronavirus in UK

Former Pakistani cricketers Zaheer Abbas and Sarfraz Nawaz got vaccinated for the coronavirus in the United Kingdom, Geo News reported Saturday.

Nawaz said the vaccine is safe and people should get it done as it will help control the disease.

A vaccination camp has been set up at Lord's in London for players from where Abbas and Faraz got the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Earlier this week, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had said Pakistan will receive its first batch of the coronavirus vaccine directly from manufacturers, as well as the global platform of COVAX, in the first quarter of the year.

The government will be ordering doses from more than one international supplier within this quarter, Dr Sultan told Geo.tv.

Pakistan will only procure vaccines that have been approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) “after evaluation of its quality vis a vis efficacy data", Dr. Sultan explained.

Last week, the DRAP approved for emergency use authorisation two COVID-19 vaccines – the Chinese manufactured Sinopharm, and the Oxford-AstraZeneca. In the near future, the doctor added, more vaccines will also be given a go-ahead by the regulatory body.

Earlier, a health official had told Geo.tv, on the condition of anonymity, that one other vaccine being examined by DRAP at the moment is the Ad5-nCoV, developed by a Chinese pharmaceutical firm, which underwent trials in Pakistan recently.