PM Imran Khan gives important instructions on Coronavirus vaccine procurement and distribution
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Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered relevant authorities to expedite efforts for the procurement and distribution of the two Coronavirus vaccines recently approved by DRAP.
The premier issued these directives during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Procurement of COVID-19 Vaccine. ------------------------------
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During the meeting, PM Imran was briefed that DRAP had granted Emergency Use Approval (EUA) to two COVID-19 vaccines to be used in emergencies across the country.
One of the DRAP-approved vaccines has been developed by AstraZeneca, a British pharmaceutical company, in collaboration with Oxford University while the other by state-owned firm China National Pharmaceutical Group known as Sinopharm.
PM was told that Pakistan will receive the first consignment of the DRAP approved COVID-19 vaccines procured directly from the manufacturers as well as through the COVAX facility in the first quarter of this year.
In this regard, the Cabinet Committee will soon place final orders for the procurement of Coronavirus with multiple manufacturers. The country had fulfilled the requirements to become an eligible recipient of the Coronavirus vaccine through the COVAX facility in December last year. ------------------------------
The premier was apprised that all necessary arrangements ranging from infrastructure to framework and from training to capacity are already in place in order to initiate a mass vaccination campaign this quarter as well.
Frontline healthcare workers and elderly citizens will be the first to receive the Coronavirus vaccine during the vaccination campaign, the Committee told the PM.
