‘Pakistan starting clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine’

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry Friday announced that Pakistan would be starting the first phase of ‘clinical trial for a novel coronavirus vaccine’, as the world’s scientists including Pakistan in race to find a way to combat the deadly pathogen.

Talking to media, Fawad Ch said Pakistan is fully contributing to the 66 global studies being conducted on Coronavirus adopting three different approaches including Re-purposed Drugs, Antibodies and Vaccines.

This is Pakistan’s major step towards international efforts for controlling COVID-19 disease mortality, he said, adding, the quality of testing kits will be ensured under DRAP authority. Hopefully Pakistan would be among the list of those countries which defeat Coronavirus", the minister said. The minister added that a team led by Dr Attaur Rahman was also closely working with the World Health Organization for the development of an anti-coronavirus vaccine. Pakistani researchers working under government-approved projects can develop a vaccine for coronavirus but the process will take little time, he added.“As with all drugs and medical devices, government will assess and monitor the safety and effectiveness of all products authorized under the DRAP.”

DRAP had also prepared a strict rules and regulations for quality Testing Kits in country, he added. Fawad said we were in dire need of safety kits, masks and ventilators amid COVID-19 outbreak, while we have increased our capacity in health system against this pandemic and now we will start manufacturing the ventilators indigenous on our own.

Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has completed legal proceedings in this regard and licensing process will start within a week before manufacturing, he added. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has granted permission for conducting clinical trials for COVID-19 patients and trials of locally produced ventilators would also be started soon in Pakistan, he added.