ISLAMABAD: In order to help the country fight coronavirus pandemic, the Pakistan Army has ordered two million doses of Russian Covid vaccine Sputnik V.
An agreement for the jabs has been finalised and the first consignment of 200,000 doses is all set to arrive in Pakistan. A special aircraft of Pakistan Air Force will airlift the vaccine doses from Abu Dhabi.
Islamabad received 1.2 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 100,000 Pfizer doses under the United Nations-backed COVAX program launched to support the purchase and delivery of COVID-19 vaccine to 92 low- and middle-income countries.
Earlier in the year, the Chinese government has aided three batches of vaccines to Pakistan, and the Chinese military also donated two batches of vaccines to the Pakistani army.
Pakistan will import more coronavirus vaccines made by China’s CanSino Biologics next month, equivalent to 3 million doses, the minister in charge for COVID-19 operations said on Tuesday. Pakistan began a vaccination drive last month with over a million doses of Sinopharm vaccines donated by long-time ally China, but is scrambling to get more supplies as it awaits WHO/COVAX/GAVI allocations of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which have been delayed.
