Pakistan has received 2.5 million doses of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine through COVAX, the country’s foreign ministry’s office tweeted on Friday. “2.5m doses of Moderna Covid Vaccine provided to Pakistan by the US under COVAX have reached Islamabad,” the ministry said.
Pakistan has been so far reliant on three vaccines — Sinopharm, CanSinoBio, and Sinovac — all provided by China, to fuel its immunisation programme. The country had signed a deal with China’s CanSinoBio pharma in late March to import a concentrate of the vaccine in bulk for the purpose of producing it locally, branding it as PakVac. The country aims to produce 3 million doses of the vaccine monthly, reported Reuters.
The vaccines were delivered in partnership with the COVAX global vaccine initiative, UNICEF, and the government of Pakistan, the US embassy said in an official statement. “Delivering on our pledge to facilitate equitable global access to safe and effective vaccines, which are essential to ending the Covid-19 pandemic.” the statement added.
“The United States’ delivery of 2.5M doses of the Moderna vaccine to Pakistan highlights our enduring friendship and cooperation on Covid-19. We are committed to bringing this pandemic to an end around the world,” tweeted Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs, said on Twitter that “these vaccines will give a boost to ongoing vaccination drives in Pakistan. Deeply appreciate continued support by the US in our fight against the pandemic,”
Pakistan, which has partially vaccinated 13 million people and fully vaccinated three million people, also has plans to purchase the Pfizer vaccine by the end of this year.
