Govt likely to procure 18m vaccine doses by June: Dr Faisal

ISLAMABAD – Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services (SAPM) Dr. Faisal Sultan has said that the government will likely to procure above 18 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the country by June this year. “The government will likely to procure 18.7 million doses till the month of June and 78 percent of them are already purchased,” said Dr. Faisal yesterday in a statement. Informing about the schedule of vaccine arrivals, he said that in 500,000 doses were received in January, 700,000 in February, 1,060,000 in March, 3,000,000 in April, 6,700,000 doses are expected in May and 6,300,000 in the month of June. Dr. Faisal also said that two million doses have been administered so far including 17,000 in one day (April 27). He said that the government is regularly purchasing vaccines despite global supply issues and our vaccine roll-out is continuing uninterrupted. The SAPM said that it is wrong to say that the government is relying only on “donations” because we have been purchasing vaccines from three manufacturers and since 30th March,  three million purchased vaccines have arrived. He said that deals for 30 million doses, including a deal for technology transfer and joint manufacturing of CanSino have been signed. Dr Faisal Sultan also said that there is a serious lack of supply all over the world. For example: even the richest countries like Canada and Australia have had to pause or slow down their roll-out due to a lack of supply.

Article source: https://nation.com.pk/30-Apr-2021/govt-likely-to-procure-18m-vaccine-doses-by-june-dr-faisal