Pakistan to pre-book corona vaccine

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tuesday decided to pre-book coronavirus vaccine after Prime Minister Imran Khan approved recommendation. Parliamentary Secretary for Health Dr. Nausheen Hamid confirmed that Pakistan was in contact with two manufacturers at the international level for advance booking of the vaccine and hoped that the deal would be finalized soon, say media reports.

Sources privy to the matter said that the health ministry had recommended allotting $100 million for 10 million doses. The vaccine will be administered to health workers and elderly persons on priority basis.

It is pertinent to mention that US biotech firm Moderna Monday announced that its experimental vaccine was 94.5 percent effective, marking a second major breakthrough in the vaccine hunt.

Moderna released early results from a clinical trial with more than 30,000 participants, after US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech last week said their vaccine was 90 percent effective.