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 Saturday, making it the first coronavirus vaccine to receive 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 multiple sources.

“DRAP has authorized the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine,” Health Minister Faisal Sultan told Reuters.

Approval has been given to get more than a million doses of Sinopharms vaccine from China, he said.

“We are in the process of obtaining vaccines of western origin and other vaccines through bilateral purchase agreements as well as through the COVAX facility,” he said.

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

Pakistan is speaking with a number of vaccine manufacturers, and Sultan said the country could receive vaccine doses “in the range of tens of millions” under an agreement with China’s CanSinoBio.

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

Efficacy is a key factor, Sultan said. “We have and are following the evolving efficacy stories of a number of vaccines.”

Sultan said the Cansino’s preliminary results could come 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 to nearly 11,000.

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

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