Pakistan receives 1.238m doses of AstraZeneca

Ag APP

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has received first consignment of around 1.238 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 vaccine through a commercial flight on the night between Friday and Saturday in Islamabad.

Women below the age of 40 would not be administered the AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in Pakistan as its safety data is pending, federal health authorities Saturday said. “Some restrictions on use (of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine) in younger women may be put in place, as an interim”, Special Assistant to Prime Minister SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan told The News when asked if the people in Pakistan would be offered alternative to AstraZeneca’s vaccine due to its safety issues.

“In a pandemic with short supply (of vaccines), the pick and choose method is not workable”, Dr Faisal Sultan maintained and added that a committee of experts was looking into the safety data and issued some modification in use guidelines.

The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHS,R&C), in the meanwhile, issued “AstraZeneca Vaccine Interim Guidelines” based on the recommendations of the expert committee comprising infectious diseases experts and vaccinologists, directing the authorities not to vaccinate women below 40 years with the AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

The set of guidelines further states that the vaccine should not be administered to people with a history of severe allergic reaction to any component (e.g polysorbate) of the vaccine formulation while it is also not recommended for persons younger than 18 years of age pending the results of further studies. “People who developed clotting disorder with the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine should also not be given the second dose of the AstraZeneca’s vaccine while individuals having fever at the time of coming for vaccination, can get it after the illness is settled.”

As far as patients with active COVID-19 is concerned, the guidelines says those with mild COVID-19 can receive the vaccine once the isolation period complete, while those with severe COVID-19 can receive the vaccine once they become stable.

Similarly, individuals on short-term immunosuppressive medication should wait for 28 day after the medication ends while those chronically immunosuppressed may receive the vaccine, though efficacy may be lower. “Post-transplantation people may receive the vaccine 3 months after transplantation while post chemotherapy, people may receive the vaccine 28 days after chemotherapy”.

Those having active GI bleeding disorder or seizures are also not recommended to get the vaccine jabs while those with history of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (HITT or HIT type 2) are also not allowed to get the vaccine. “Those with history of major blood clot occurring at the same time as having low levels of platelets after receiving any COVID-19 vaccine should also not receive the vaccine”, the interim guidelines say.

An official of the NHS,R&C said Saturday that Pakistan was supposed to get the first tranche of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine through COVAX in March but the vaccine supply was delayed after the Serum Institute of India (SII) diverted the supplies to meet its domestic needs. “Pakistan has now managed to get the vaccine from South Korea using influence with partner organisations”, he added.

The federal ministry official maintained that another consignment of the vaccine has been committed in June alongside ‘a little over 0.1 million’ Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine doses, adding even Moderna’s vaccine could be supplied to Pakistan through COVAX.

The official maintained as many as 1.238 million syringes to administer the vaccine doses were also supplied to Pakistan, saying GAVI supplies are always bundled having corresponding quantities of syringes. “Our timely acquisition of UCC (Ultra Cold Chain) freezers has put us ahead for Pfizer and Moderna through COVAX,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday announced the country received over 10 million doses of Coronavirus vaccines procured from China including others through COVAX programme. The forum has urged all citizens, especially senior citizens of above 60 years age, to get vaccinated on priority. The forum has underscored that 60 years and above aged people were the most vulnerable to the disease. It added that so far 10.19 million doses of different Covid vaccines comprising of Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSino were received by the country.

The forum also informed that 1.23 million doses of Astrazenca COVID vaccine were also received in the federal capital. However, this vaccine was procured through COVAX programme, it added.

While elaborating the arrival of next tranches of the COVID vaccines, the forum said one million doses of Sinovac were landing on 9 May (Sunday) whereas one million consignment was landing on 13-15 May, while another 1.5 million doses were expected by the end of May, 2021.