The Special Cabinet Committee to oversee procurement of COVID-19 vaccine decided to book the vaccine from a China state-owned company, Sinopharm, based on data submitted and timely availability.
The decision was made in the body’s second meeting with Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar in the chair. Ministers Fawad Chaudhry and Hammad Azhar, as well as PM aides Dr Sania Nishtar and Dr Faisal Sultan, were among the participants.
This decision is contingent upon emergency use approval by DRAP. Once approved and procured, the government will provide free of cost COVID-19 vaccine for all frontline health workers in the first quarter of 2021.
It was also decided that other manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccine will continue to be engaged in for future bookings for the remaining phases of vaccination, based on further data and availability.
It was reiterated by the committee that the private sector will also be encouraged to approach DRAP and follow the laid down procedures for emergency use authorization of any available and safe COVID-19 vaccine.
The committee was apprised a number of countries have pre-booked COVID-19 vaccine based on preliminary or incomplete results in order to ensure the timely availability of vaccines for their populations.
In some situations, vaccines were booked even in development stages to ensure availability. The committee was informed of the deliberations of a committee formed by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) to analyzing available data from clinical studies performed so far. Of the available options, data from one company has been submitted for review to the committee for a final adjudication for emergency use.