Pakistan approves AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use in Pakistan, the health minister said on Saturday, becoming the first coronavirus vaccine to receive a green light for use in the South Asian country.

Pakistan, which is seeing an increasing number of coronavirus infections, said its vaccines would be procured from several sources.

“DRAP has granted emergency use authorization for AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine,” Health Minister Faisal Sultan told Reuters.

Approval has been granted to obtain more than one million doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China, he said.

“We are in the process of obtaining Western origin and other vaccines, both through bilateral purchase agreements and through the COVAX facility,” he said.

The Chinese vaccine is awaiting approval from the Pakistan Drug Regulatory Authority (DRAP), which has received and revised its data.

Pakistan is talking to a number of vaccine manufacturers, and the Sultan said the country could receive “tens of millions” of vaccine doses under an agreement with Chinese company CanSinoBio.

The candidate of the Ad5-nCoV vaccine company COVID-19 is approaching the completion of phase III clinical trials in Pakistan.

Effectiveness is a key factor, Sultan said. “We have and are evolving stories about the effectiveness of a number of vaccines.”

Sultan said Cansino’s preliminary results could come by mid-February. He added that Pakistan plans to commit to the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

Pakistan reported 2,432 new coronavirus infections and 45 deaths on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to more than 516,000 and nearly 11,000 deaths.

“Our goal is for most of the population to be covered for free,” he said, adding that the private sector could be allowed even after the supply is available to an authorized company.

Sultan added that Pakistan has adequate facilities for the cold chain for most types of vaccines.