Coronavirus: Pakistan approves AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use
AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use in Pakistan, the health minister said on Saturday, making it the first coronavirus vaccine to get the green light for use in the South Asian country.
Pakistan, which is in the midst of a second wave of coronavirus infections, has said it would procure more than a million doses of Sinopharm’s vaccine, but the Chinese vaccine has not yet been approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).
“DRAP granted emergency use authorization to AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine,” the country’s health minister, Faisal Sultan, told Reuters.
For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.
Pakistan is in the process of speaking to a number of vaccine makers, and Sultan said the country could get “in the range of tens of millions” of vaccine doses under an agreement with China’s CanSinoBio.
The vaccine company’s Ad5-nCoV COVID-19 candidate is currently nearing completion of phase III clinical trials in Pakistan.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Pakistan reported 2,432 new coronavirus infections and 45 deaths on Friday, taking the total number of cases to more than 516,000 and deaths close to 11,000.
Read more:
Pakistan will purchase 1.2 million of Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine doses
Coronavirus: Pakistan raises COVID-19 vaccine budget to $250 million
Coronavirus: Oxygen shortage leaves six COVID-19 patients dead in Pakistan
-
Policeman escorting team of polio workers in Pakistan killed by gunmen
Gunmen riding on a motorcycle shot and killed a policeman in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday as he escorted a team of polio workers.For all the ... World News -
Pakistan suspends power plant staff following nationwide blackout
Seven staff at one of Pakistan’s biggest power plants have been suspended after a technical fault sparked a massive grid breakdown at the weekend, ... World News -
Pakistan will purchase 1.2 million of Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine doses
Pakistan will purchase 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from China’s Sinopharm, a minister said on Thursday.“The Cabinet Committee has decided to ... Coronavirus