ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is expecting to receive 5.6 million doses of coronavirus vaccines by the end of March, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), which oversees the country's COVID-19 response, said on Saturday.
The South Asian country has recorded more than 570,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 12,600 deaths, is largely reliant on the Covax initiative by the World Health Organization, which aims to supply coronavirus vaccines to poorer nations.
The country began its COVID-19 vaccination program earlier this month, targeting frontline health workers, with 500,000 doses of Sinopharm's vaccine donated by China. So far, nearly 73,000 out of over 300,000 registered have been vaccinated, according to NCOC data.
Last week, Pakistan announced that it expected to receive 2.8 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in early March.
"5.6 million covid vaccine doses will reach Pakistan by end March, out of which 2.8 million doses of Gavi/Covax are expected to reach by first week of March and 2.8 million doses by second week of March," NCOC said in a statement.
The apex body for addressing the pandemic added that 17.1 million doses will reach the country of 220 million people by the end of June.
As the arrival of vaccines has been secured, the South Asian nation is now expanding its immunization campaign to all health workers and persons above 60, whom Health Minister Faisal Sultan on Saturday urged to register for vaccination.
In its fight against the virus, it has so far approved for emergency use China’s Sinopharm and CanSinoBIO vaccines, AstraZeneca’s vaccine developed with Oxford University and Russia’s Sputnik V.
