Pakistan receives first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines via COVAX Facility

More than one million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine delivered by COVAX Facility to support Government’s efforts to vaccinate high-risk people across Pakistan Islamabad, 8 May 2021 – Today Pakistan received its first shipment of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines (SII-AZ AZD1222) from the COVAX Facility.  The consignment of 1 238 400 doses of vaccines, which will be followed by another of 1 236 000 in a few days, will support the Government of Pakistan’s ongoing historic drive to bring the pandemic to an end. Further allocations from June onwards will be confirmed in due course. The goal of the COVAX Facility is to supply Pakistan with enough doses to vaccinate 20% of the population depending on availability.   Dr Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, welcomed this first consignment together with representatives of COVAX technical and funding partners at the headquarters of the National Emergency Operations Centre. “In this unprecedented crisis, we appreciate the COVAX Facility and GAVI’s contribution to the collective effort to fight COVID-19 in Pakistan,” said Dr Faisal Sultan. “Sometimes, such crises propel innovation and to this end, we were able to quickly expand the capacity of the Expanded Programme on Immunization's facilities to vaccinate our eligible population against COVID-19. Recently, we have been administering almost 200 ...
Source: WHO EMRO News - Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news