Pakistani health minister Faisal Sultan announced on Tuesday that the country has concluded an agreement with Pfizer to secure 13 million units of the pharmaceutical company’s COVID-19 vaccines. While the vaccines are expected to arrive before the end of 2021, there is no exact timeline for the rollout of these vaccines as of yet.
Initially, the South Asian nation expressed hesitancy when it came to the distribution of vaccines. This resulted in Pakistan receiving only 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the COVAX facility in May, with these shots only being distributed to citizens who are immunocompromised and not suitable for other vaccines.
Pakistan launched a mass vaccination campaign last month, in which it relied heavily on China for its vaccine supply. Nearly 13 million doses have been administered thus far, with 3.5 million people being fully inoculated. Currently, vaccinations are open to all adults in the country.
With a goal of fully vaccinating at least 70 million people, the Pakistani government has so far spent $1.1 billion on its efforts to procure COVID-19 vaccines.
