Pakistan to receive 15M COVID-19 vaccines from Germany

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan will receive 15 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine from Germany by May, the nation’s foreign minister said on Monday.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the doses will be provided under the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility, which aims to ensure equitable provision of COVID-19 vaccines.

His remarks came in a tweet after meeting his German counterpart Heiko Maas as part of a three-day visit to Germany.

“Following my meeting with Foreign Minister @HeikoMaas, I am happy to announce that Pakistan will receive 15 million doses of the #COVID vaccine under COVAX, with a commitment for these to be delivered by May," he said.

Grappling with a third wave of the virus, Pakistan is currently vaccinating frontline healthcare workers and citizens who are older than 50 with China's Sinopharm and CanSino jabs.

Private hospitals in major cities have also started inoculation with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine imported by a pharmaceutical company.

The South Asian country has also approved emergency use of UK's AstraZeneca and China’s CoronaVac vaccines. Both vaccines, however, are yet to be administered.

Pakistan is set to receive “millions of doses” of COVID-19 vaccines in weeks to come in order to accelerate the country’s sluggish immunization campaign.

The nationwide caseload has neared 730,000 with over 15,600 deaths after 4,318 new infections and 112 more fatalities, the highest daily spike during the ongoing third wave, were registered in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.