By our staff reporter
Islamabad: Pakistan is all set to import 45 millions of Indian made vaccine. First shipment of vaccine is expected in Pakistan in June this year, Pakistani officials confirmed on Thursday.
India is giving final touch of export of 45 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Pakistan. The ‘Made in India’ coronavirus vaccines from GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance will help in vaccinating almost half the world’s children against deadly and debilitating infectious diseases, officials said.
A higher official from Pakistan’s Ministry of Health said, Pakistan was not importing the vaccine directly. Rather, it was being imported through the vaccine Global Alliance GAVI. However, shipment may arrive directly from India.
Pakistan’s drug regulator, Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, had approved Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in January this year. This was one of the first Covid-19 vaccine to be granted approval in Pakistan.
Indian media reports quoted Indian officials as saying that Pakistan would get 16 million free doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, from the vaccine alliance GAVI.
Pakistan is expected to get the remaining doses by June.
“Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, helps vaccinate almost half the world’s children against deadly and debilitating infectious disease,” India media report said.
So far, India has supplied the Covid-19 vaccine to 65 countries. While many foreign nations have received the vaccine on a grant basis, others have paid the price set by the Indian government.
India has provided around 56 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines under grants assistance countries, including Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles.
The quantum has not yet been arrived at, and it could take some more time before the logistics and the approvals come through. But, it will go directly from India to Pakistan.
Bilateral relationship between Pakistan and India are currently all time low. While bilateral trade between India and Pakistan has been adversely impacted with the deterioration in ties in 2019, the supply of “life-saving medicines” is exempt and can be done through the bilateral route.
It is worth noting that bilateral trade has almost stopped in the past two years – first after the Pulwama terror attack of February 2019. Tension between two south Asian neighbors soared after India revoked special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
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