Pakistan likely to receive Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine under COVAX programme

Pakistan may be receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the first quarter of the year under the World Health Organization’s COVAX programme. 

The global initiative signed an advance purchase agreement with American pharmaceutical for up to 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine candidate – which has already been approved for emergency use by the global health body.

A statement issued last week read that the vaccine rollout will commence with the “successful negotiation and execution of supply agreements.”

COVAX also confirmed it would receive first 100 million doses of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) under an existing agreement with the Indian firm.

“Of these first 100 million doses, the majority are earmarked for delivery in the first quarter of the year, pending WHO Emergency Use Listing,” read the statement.