Pakistan will receive its first purchase of over 1 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm and CanSino COVID-19 vaccines by the end of March, the minister in charge of pandemic operations told Reuters on Tuesday.

This will be the first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines the Pakistani government has purchased from any manufacturer for its 220 million people. Pakistan has previously relied on donations and on allocations from the World Health Organisation-backed COVAX scheme for poorer nations.

“We have purchased one million and 60,000 doses of Sinopharm and CanSino vaccines,” Asad Umar said. “We will be receiving the consignment before the end of March.”

He said the government was in talks with the same companies to purchase a further seven million doses of the vaccines.

“We want them to deliver that seven million by the end of April, but they have not confirmed this yet. They might have some supply issues,” Umar added.

Pakistan is currently vaccinating frontline healthcare workers and citizens over the age of 60 free of charge using Sinopharm doses donated by China.

The South Asian country has recently experienced a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections.

Reuters