Covid-19 vaccination: Pakistan to vaccinate 50m people in 2021, says Dr Faisal Sultan

SUKKUR: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Dr Faisal Sultan has said that the government has announced three-pronged procurement strategy of purchasing Covid-19 vaccines, i.e. bilateral, Covax and direct purchase. In his opening remarks, Dr Faisal Sultan mentioned that the government has allocated $150 million to procure anti-Covid-19 vaccines, further discussing that the public sector would provide 99 percent of vaccinations, however, the private sector is also allowed to offer the vaccination. This was stated in an event titled ‘Global Epidemiology/Covid-19 Vaccine Trials and CanSino Vaccine’, organised by an international NGO, ‘The Impact’, with a large scale of institutional participation of all provincial health departments of Pakistan.

The SAPM mentioned that Pakistan has approximately 220 million population, and out of which almost 100 million have fallen in the given criteria and the government is aiming to vaccinate 50 million people this year. He said that 2.8 million doses would be available to the general public through Covax facility in early March as per defined priorities. He appreciated launching of the vaccination rollout in Pakistan but maintained the pace could be improved, saying the vaccination campaign will nullify anti-vaccination notions in the country.

Balochistan Health Minister, Dr Rubab Khan Buledi, apprised the audience that the demographically scattered population was indeed a challenge, while combating the pandemic in the province. He said despite the odds, Balochistan still managed well and has the lowest Covid-19 fatality ratio among all the other provinces. She also highlighted to maintaining cold chain management in rolling out vaccination in dispersed population of the province, updating that nearly 5,000 healthcare workers have so far been vaccinated out of 20,000. She ruled out the private sector from the provision of vaccination programme for general public to avoid confusion. Head of Department of Infectious Diseases at Indus Hospital & Health Network, Dr Salahuddin shared her experience of CanSino Phase-III trials in Pakistan as she was the site principal investigator. The trial, she said, was consistent with international practices of research. The advantage of this vaccine is its safety and efficacy of 65-99 percent for prevention of severe infection, and a single dose of administration.