AstraZeneca’s supply to Pakistan delayed till May

KARACHI: Pakistan may not be receiving any doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine through COVAX before May or even later after the Serum Institute of India (SII), which is supplying the vaccine to the international donor agency, diverted the supplies to meet its domestic needs, officials said on Saturday. The development has jeopardized country’s vaccination programme, at a time when Pakistan is confronting the virulent Third Wave of Covid-19.

“Due to surge, their (Indians) indigenous demand went up resulting in delayed export authorization for COVAX. It has affected Pakistan along with many other countries which were scheduled to receive supplies during March. Pakistan's plan was certainly offset due to this unforeseen delay,” an official of the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHS,R&C) told The News.

Pakistan has so far managed to only get half a million or 0.25 percent of its population vaccinated with Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, mostly donated from China, which has so far donated 1.5 million doses in three shipments to Pakistan, as the country is confronting the third wave of COVID-19. Alarm bells have been rung by Federal Minister Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, saying the "If the increase continues at this rate then in the next few days or next week, we will go beyond the level and peak we saw in the first wave in June last."

The health authorities said following delay in arrival of AstraZeneca’s Covishield through COVAX, they have ordered one million doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China which is due to arrive in Pakistan on Tuesday, March 30 while at least 60,000 doses of China’s single dose vaccine, Convidecia are also expected to reach Pakistan on the same night.

“For COVAX, the latest communication hints at likelihood of supply to resume from May onwards. But we have urgently procured large supplies (from China) during March – April”, the NHS official said adding that soon vaccination of people above 50 years will commence with the Chinese vaccines.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan claimed that alternate arrangements had been made and soon enough doses of the vaccines would be available to vaccinate a sizeable number of population. “We are in regular communication with Covax. There is not yet any confirmed date of delivery for them”, Dr. Faisal Sultan said.

Meanwhile, a private company has also imported the single dose Chinese vaccine. The first shipment of 10,000 doses of single-dose Chinese vaccine Convidecia, developed by the CanSino Biologics Inc, will reach Karachi on Monday, March 29, 2021 being imported by a private firm AJM Pharma Ltd," Hasan Abbas Zaheer, technical advisor of the AJM Pharma (pvt) Limited, told The News on Saturday.