Pakistan approves AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use in Pakistan, the health minister said on Saturday, becoming the first coronavirus vaccine to be given the green light for use in the South Asian country.

Pakistan, which is seeing an increasing number of coronavirus infections, said its vaccines would be obtained from several sources.

“The DRAP has granted emergency use authorization for AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine,” Health Minister Faisal Sultan told Reuters.

Over one million doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine have been approved, he said.

“We are in the process of obtaining vaccines of western origin and others, both through bilateral purchase agreements and through the installation of COVAX,” he said.

The Chinese vaccine is awaiting approval from the Pakistan Medicines Regulatory Authority (DRAP), which has received and reviewed its data.

Pakistan is talking to several vaccine manufacturers, and Sultan said the country could obtain “about tens of millions” of vaccine doses under an agreement with China’s CanSinoBio.

Vaccine company’s Ad5-nCoV COVID-19 candidate is nearing completion of Phase III clinical trials in Pakistan.

Effectiveness is a key factor, said Sultan. “We have and are watching evolving stories about the effectiveness of a series of vaccines.”

Sultan said Cansino’s preliminary results could arrive in mid-February. He added that Pakistan is considering getting involved with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

Pakistan reported 2,432 new coronavirus infections and 45 deaths on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to more than 516,000 and deaths close to 11,000.

“Our goal is for the bulk of the population to be served free of charge,” said the minister, adding that private sectors could also be authorized, once the supply was available to an authorized company.

Sultan added that Pakistan had adequate cold chain facilities for most types of vaccines.