Fight against corona: Rs20 bn set aside to buy vaccines

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Monday approved a supplementary grant of $130 million equivalent to Rs20 billion for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for procurement of vaccine to cope with Covid-19 pandemic. This year a target has been set to vaccinate 70 million people.

Top official sources confirmed to The News that it is expected that the government will utilise around $300 to $500 million in the next fiscal year for procuring more vaccines for almost 70 to 100 million eligible population. However, the NDMA holds the exact numbers and it is yet to ascertain from them how many exact numbers are going to vaccinated in Pakistan next fiscal year. When contacted, Federal Minister for Planning and In-charge NCOC Asad Umar replied that the NDMA possessed the exact numbers.

According to official announcement made here on Monday, the Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, chaired a special meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet.

The ECC meeting was specially called to provide technical supplementary grant of US$130 million to the NDMA Fund to ensure timely procurement of corona vaccine for the effective national response to Covid-19 pandemic. The funds will be utilised for the procurement of 10 million doses of the Covid vaccine during the month of June 2021.

During the new financial year, the need for additional funds will be reviewed and additional funds will be provided accordingly. The administration of vaccine shall be the responsibility of M/o National Health Services Regulation and Coordination and provincial health departments.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, Federal Minister for Privatization Muhammad Mian Soomro, Federal Minister for Railways Azam Swati, Adviser to the PM on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser to the PM on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain, SAPM on Finance and Revenue Dr Waqar Masood, Finance Secretary and other senior officers participated in the meeting.

Separately, addressing a press conference after attending a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC), the head of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Asad Umar said that the government will launch a major campaign to make sure that the coronavirus vaccine reaches the entire population.

The NCC meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan that reviewed the coronavirus situation in the country.The federal minister for planning said that the restrictions introduced by the government before Eid had paid dividends as the positivity rate was declining. He explained that the restrictions were a “defensive action” and affects the livelihood of the people, adding that the only way out of the current situation was to get vaccinated.

Umar said that the government is hoping to get enough people vaccinated by Eid-ul-Azha so that there is no need to impose restrictions as they did on Eidul Fitr. To that end, the minister said that the government is shifting from the “whole of government approach” to a “whole of nation approach”.

Asad Umar said that under the whole of government approach “all departments, be it federal or provincial, are working together” against Covid-19. “The next stage that we are going to is called the whole of nation approach.”

He added that this means that the “whole nation has to work together” for the vaccination drive. “To make sure that the vaccine reaches everyone, we are launching a major campaign,” he said.The minister said that as the first step, the NCOC will hold a meeting with media owners and anchors on Tuesday (today). “We will take media’s help first in the campaign. Media played a positive role when coronavirus was first reported. Like this, we want a big vaccination campaign focusing on why vaccination is necessary.”

In the next step of the campaign, the minister said that the government will reach out to the religious scholars of the country. “We have requested President Arif Alvi to call a meeting of religious scholars and make sure the message reaches every Pakistani that taking care of your health is in your religion,” said Umar. He also shared that the government will reach out to the bar councils and journalist organisations as well.

Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) announced that it will start scheduling the vaccination of people above the age of 18 from Thursday (June 3). “In today’s NCOC meeting, it was decided to start registration of 18-plus from Thursday, the 3rd of June. With this step, the vaccination of all eligible age groups would be carried out,” NCOC chief Asad Umar wrote on Twitter. He also urged people to register themselves for the vaccine as soon as possible.

A digital portal has been launched by the federal government for the registration through which a code is assigned to the person. They can then go to a designated vaccination centre and get a jab.

In another Tweet Asad Umar said that number of deaths from Covid-19 in India is 236 [actually it is 238] per million population, while this ratio is 92 per million population in Pakistan. He said there would have been two million less corona deaths in India if it had same ratio recorded in Pakistan. He advised people to be grateful to God and follow SOPs and get vaccinated.

Addressing the NCC meeting through video link, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that despite closing market places by 6pm and restricting people at their homes with some exceptions Covid positivity ratio has gone up to more than 10 per cent. He said that the provincial government has decided to set up vaccination centres at government and private institutes.

The Registration Board of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), meanwhile, granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 mRNA vaccine in Pakistan for vaccination of 12 years and above, officials said.

“The DRAP has granted emergency use authorization to Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 mRNA vaccine with brand name Comirnaty on same terms and conditions as those of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA)”, an official of the DRAP told The News on Monday.

The first shipment of 106,000 doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 mRNA vaccine has already arrived through COVAX, while authorities are also planning to procure ‘one to two million doses’ of mRNA vaccine directly from the manufacturer through the National Disaster Management Authority. The DRAP official said as the vaccine was already approved by the USFDA and EMA for emergency use, it was not referred to the expert committee, which recommends the DRAP to approve and reject the emergency use authorization and added that the registration board was convinced of the safety and efficacy of the mRNA vaccine. Pakistan has already granted emergency use authorization to three Chinese vaccines including Sinopharm, CanSino and SinoVac, in addition to AstraZeneca’s Covishield and Russian Sputnik V, DRAP officials said adding that now the first mRNA vaccine has also been granted approval.

The officials at the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHS R&C) told The News that since they have received a limited supply of Pfizer’s vaccine so far, so it would only be used to inoculate “those with compromised immunity, transplant patients, pregnant ladies, children of 12 years and above in need of vaccination” and those recommended by the committee of experts. In addition to that, Pfizer’s vaccine can be used for inoculation of Hajis (Pilgrims) of less than 40 years of age as they can’t be inoculated with AstraZeneca’s vaccine at the moment, the official said adding that strict monitoring of the vaccine would be carried out to prevent its misuse.

“Some “Big Guns” have already started approaching us to vaccinate them and their families with Pfizer’s vaccine but they are being refused as this is only meant for people with compromised immunity,” the official said and added that NCOC would distribute the vaccine to the provinces under strict instructions to prevent its misuse. “We are worried about the misuse of the mRNA vaccine in Punjab and Sindh as they have done some irregularities, so a foolproof system of monitoring and tracking all the doses of mRNA vaccine is being devised,” the official added.

Meanwhile, four more cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus (B.1.617.2) were detected in Sindh, taking the number of such cases to five, Sindh Health Secretary Kazim Jatoi said Monday.

All four people had returned from the Gulf and tested positive upon arrival at the Karachi airport. “Three of them had come from Iraq while another arrived from Muscat,” Jatoi said, adding that three belong to Karachi and one is from Ghotki. They have been quarantined and tests of their family members are also being conducted, he said.

As per the government’s standard operating procedures (SOPs), the infected individual was quarantined at a government facility where additional testing (PCR) confirmed the presence of an Indian variant of coronavirus.

Appreciating the efficient screening and isolation system put in place for international travellers, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination has stressed upon the airlines to strictly enforce SOPs for travellers, including presenting a mandatory test report from an authentic lab in the country of origin.

Meanwhile, the Sindh Health Department has opened a vaccination centre at a shopping mall in the Clifton. Talking to Geo News Sindh Health Secretary Kazim Jatoi said that the mall administration has been provided single-dose PakVac vaccine. People are also being inoculated at Karachi Press Club, Arts Council, Bank of Punjab, Korangi Association of Trade and Industry and other places.

Meanwhile, education institutes in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reopened on Monday for preparatiosn for 10th and intermediate examinations.In a related development, the national tally on Monday of total active Covid-19 cases recorded 59,033 with 2,117 more people tested positive for the deadly virus and 1,919 people recovered from the disease during the 24 hours.

Forty-three, 43, corona patients have died during past 24 hours, 41 of whom were under treatment in hospital and two in their respective quarantines or homes, according to the latest update issued by the NCOC.During the past 24 hours, most of the deaths have occurred in the Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.