Tag: Vaccine

  • Punjab to vaccinate students of universities, medical institutions

    Punjab to vaccinate students of universities, medical institutions

    The Punjab government has decided to vaccinate students of medical colleges and universities, to ensure the safety of all and protection from the virus.

    The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid. The government discussed a possible move to vaccinate people employed in 30 other sectors where the dangers of contracting the virus are high. 

    “Strict implementation of SOPs led to reduction in coronavirus tests. As of today, 901 cases emerged across the province. For the first time, less than a thousand cases have been reported across the province,” Dr Yasmin Rashid had said. 

    There is a total of 905,852 confirmed cases of Covid- 19 in the country, with a positivity rate of 4.8 per cent.

  • Asad Umar urges unity against ‘danger knocking at our doors’

    Federal Minister Ministry for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives and head of the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar has warned the nation about the danger of the COVID-19 “knocking at our doors” and has expressed the need to unite against the virus.

    “The need for caution is clear,” warned Umar. “The danger is higher than ever and [is] knocking at our doors.”

    The minister urged everyone to take the necessary precautions and follow the coronavirus SOPs.

    “Need the country to unite in response and achieve once again what we achieved in the first wave, for which we received global praise. InshAllah we will do it again, together,” said Umar.

    The minister also quoted examples from the other countries of the region including India and Nepal to explain the intensity of the situation.

    He also explained the rationale behind the recent restrictions imposed on mobility. To reduce mobility during the forthcoming Eid-ul-Fitar NCOC has announced a “Stay Home, Stay Safe” strategy from May 8 to May 16, with the complete ban on tourism, for both locals and outsiders. All tourist resorts, formal and informal picnic spots, public parks, shopping malls; all hotels and restaurants in/around tourist/ picnic spots to will be remain closed during the mentioned time period.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan has also started local production of the first bulk of the Cansino vaccine, which will be available at the end of the month. A special plant was set up at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad.

    Pakistan is currently administering China’s Sinopharm at govt centres and Russia’s sputnik at private centres, and the first batch of the first shipment of the British coronavirus AstraZeneca has arrived in Pakistan.

    The country is battling with its third wave of COVID-19. According to the NCOC, Pakistan has recorded 4,109 cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours while 120 people have lost their lives to the deadly virus.

    Meanwhile, Firdous Ashiq Awan has urged people to avoid the usual, “Jhappiyan or Puppiyan”, this Eid.

  • Mobile vaccination program launched for senior citizens in four cities

    The Government of Pakistan has launched a mobile vaccination service for senior citizens aged above 80 years and for differently-abled persons aged above 50. As per reports, the service is initially available in four cities of Punjab including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Multan.

    Read more – Lahore: 550 doses of COVID-19 vaccine go missing from one hospital, 350 spoiled at another

    The step has been taken to speed up the process of vaccination amid a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.

    “Senior citizens who are 80 years and above and those with disabilities over 50 years of age don’t have to leave home for the vaccine as the government vaccine vans will reach them wherever they are,” said Punjab Minister for Health Dr Yasmin Rashid while talking about the initiative.

    Chief Minister Usman Buzdar urged people to get vaccinated and said “citizens can simply call the health helpline 1033 to get vaccinated at home.”

    Vaccinations for people over 60 years and above commenced on March 10, while registrations for people above 50 started last week on March 30.

    Meanwhile, 5234, people tested positive in the last 24 hours in Pakistan whereas, 83 people have lost their lives to the deadly virus. The positivity rate has jumped to 10.43 %.

  • CanSino vaccine: Three million doses to be ‘packed in Pakistan’

    Minister for Planning and Development and head of the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar has announced that Pakistan will be getting bulk vaccine by mid-April from Cansino from which three million vaccine doses can be made.

    Read more – Govt launches COVID-19 immunization certificate portal

    Umar said the bulk vaccine received “will be formulated, sterilised and packed in Pakistan” and for this purpose special equipment has been procured and manpower is being trained.

    The Minister also said that the “first batch of Cansino vaccine procured [is] being received today (Tuesday).”

    “This is the vaccine in which Pakistan participated in Phase 3 trials, which was the first time ever that Pakistan had done so for any vaccine,” he added.

    Vaccination of people 60 and above commenced on March 10, while registrations for people above 50 started from today (March 30).

    Pakistan is currently battling with its third wave of COVID-19. According to the NCOC, Pakistan has recorded 4084 cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours and 100 people have lost their lives to the deadly virus.

  • ‘Increase the price or it’s going somewhere else’ threatens vaccine importer

    ‘Increase the price or it’s going somewhere else’ threatens vaccine importer

    Rs 8,449 not enough for the vaccine, says the importer of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine and is threatening to “re-export” the 50,000 doses it brought to Pakistan. Officials say that the importer is saying that they can send the vaccine to ‘another country’ if the importer’s desired price is not set by the government.

    “The drug pricing committee of DRAP (Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan had recommended Rs8,449 for two doses of the vaccine, which is not acceptable to the importer,” an anonymous official of the federal government told news network, Geo News .

    RELATED: Fake COVID-19 reports, vaccines being sold on darkweb

    “The government is already under harsh criticism for the price recommended by DRAP’s pricing committee at Rs8,449. It was calculated on the basis of a landing cost of $30 but people are comparing it with the cost of the Russian vaccine in India and criticising the government for fixing higher price as compared to the neighbouring country,” the official stated.

    A representative of AGP Limited, the importer of the vaccine, said that they had the “option of re-exporting” the vaccine shipment or selling it to another country where they can get a much higher price.

    RELATED: ‘Govt does not plan to buy vaccines anytime soon’

    “The government’s price of Rs8,449 is not affordable for us because in addition to landing cost, there is distributor margin, storage and transportation costs, and hospitals and institutions will also take their service charges,” an official of the company clarified, also adding that if the didn’t send the vaccine back, there were ‘other options’ available too.

    “We are going to wait for a couple of days to resolve this issue but it is already over a week now and the shipment is [stored needlessly] at the cold storage. It could have been used by now to vaccinate at least 25,000 people who could afford to get it, as for millions, government’s vaccine is not available,” the official said to Geo News.

    Government officials had earlier said that AGP wants a retail price between Rs. 12,500-13,000 for two doses of their vaccine based on their expenses for procuring and delivering the vaccine but DRAP is unwilling to review its decision, since they say the recommended price of Rs. 8449 is fair.

  • Fake COVID-19 reports, vaccines being sold on darkweb

    Fake COVID-19 reports, vaccines being sold on darkweb

    Anonymous traders are selling fake COVID-19 negative test reports, vaccines and vaccine passports on the darkweb.

    According to reports, the price for vaccine shots ranges between $500 to $750 for AstraZeneca, Sputnik, Singopharm and Johson & Johson.

    The vaccines advertised include the Oxford-AstraZeneca at $500, Johnson & Johnson and Sputnik each at $600 and Sinopharm at $750.

    Moreover, fake vaccination certificates are being sold by traders on the for as little as $150.

    The vaccine-related advertisements have tripped after January. One seller offers next-day delivery, saying, “For overnight delivery/emergency leave us a message.”

    Another advert on a hacking forum is offering fake negative tests and reads, “We do negative COVID tests, for travellers abroad, for getting a job etc. Buy two negative tests and get the third for free!”

    Sellers of vaccines appear to be from the US, Spain, Germany, France and Russia. Multiple adverts in Russian Cyrillic text as well as in English were discovered.

    The mode of payment used for a transaction between buyers and sellers is through cryptocurrency.

  • Russia’s Sputnik V to be available privately in Pakistan

    The first shipment of the Russian Sputnik-V has arrived in Pakistan becoming the first privately-imported vaccine available in the country. Pakistan is the 22nd country to approve the Sputnik V vaccine.

    “Sputnik has received EUA (emergency use authorisation),” Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan said while talking about the vaccine.

    As per details, Sputnik V is to be administered in two shots, three weeks apart, has a six-month shelf life and is stored at -18 Celsius.

    While a price has not yet been announced, Dr Omer Chughtai of Chughtai Labs said the “government will hopefully decide and announce the price soon.”

    “We are in process of getting our vaccination centers registered,” he added.

    COVID-19 vaccination for seniors aged 70 and above began on March 10. According to the National Command Operation Center (NCOC) registered senior citizens aged 70 and above can get vaccinated from any health centre. Meanwhile, NCOC head Asad Umar on Wednesday announced that over 41 thousand people were vaccinated the previous day marking the highest daily vaccination rate.

    Pakistan launched its vaccination drive in early February with 500,000 doses of Sinopharm donated by longtime ally China, giving shots to frontline health workers as a priority.

  • Govt allows private companies to import COVID-19 vaccine

    Govt allows private companies to import COVID-19 vaccine

    The government will allow private companies to import coronavirus vaccines and has agreed to exempt such imports from price caps as the world scrambles to secure supplies.

    The documents show the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination division had sought a special cabinet exemption to allow for such imports while excluding the imported vaccines from the strict price cap regime that is typically applied to all drug sales within the country.

    The federal cabinet, the documents suggest, has approved the proposal.

    State Minister of Health Dr Faisal Sultan said that the government still planned to inoculate its population for free and only a “small minority” who wish to pay for the shots will have that option in the open market.

    “Only those who wish to get it via private sector will pay anything,” he said. “Personally, my assessment is that when the vaccines are available and we have market competition, that will automatically set the prices.”

    Pakistan began rolling out the anti-coronavirus jabs last week after receiving half a million shots of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.

    As per the roll-out plan, the vaccine will first be made available to more than 400,000 doctors and frontline healthcare workers, teachers and social workers because they run the highest risk of exposure to the contagious disease.

    After that, the shots will be provided to citizens over the age of 65, who generally face a higher mortality risk from the virus.

    Pakistan received its first tranche of the Sinopharm jabs, given by China as a “gift”, on Tuesday last week. The shipment marked the first shots to be imported into the country where more than 550,000 cases of the disease have been reported since the outbreak in February last.

    In addition, the government is due to receive a further 1.1 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine by the end of this month, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had announced late last month.

  • ‘79.3 per cent effective’: Govt to order 1.2m doses of Chinese vaccine

    ‘79.3 per cent effective’: Govt to order 1.2m doses of Chinese vaccine

    Pakistan has decided to purchase 1.2million doses of a Chinese vaccine, developed by China’s state-owned company Sinopharm, amid a worsening coronavirus outbreak across the world.

    According to Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry, the vaccine will be available in the first quarter of 2021 and it will be administered to frontline health workers in the first phase.

    “The Cabinet Committee has decided to initially purchase 1.2 million doses of the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinopharm, which will be provided free of cost to frontline workers in the first quarter of 2021,” the federal minister wrote on Twitter.

    Meanwhile, China has approved its first homegrown coronavirus vaccine, developed by state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm.

    CNN reported that the vaccine is 79.34% effective as per the interim analysis of Phase 3 clinical trials. China has drastically scaled up its vaccine emergency use program in recent weeks.

    Since December 15, the Chinese government has administered more than 3 million vaccine doses on “key groups” in the population, Zeng Yixin, vice-minister of China’s National Health Commission, said at a news conference.

    According to the report, fewer than 0.1 per cent developed a light fever, and about two people per million developed “relative serious adverse reactions” such as allergies.

    Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., a Sinopharm subsidiary, has said that interim results show the Sinopharm vaccine is safe and people who received two doses produced high-level antibodies.

  • ‘Pakistan got no reason to celebrate Pfizer vaccine’

    A day after Pfizer, a US pharmaceutical company, announced 90 per cent effective coronavirus vaccine, Pakistan’s anti-coronavirus task force head Dr Attaur Rahman said that it was “too early to celebrate the success” for multiple reasons.

    In a statement on Monday, Pfizer said that an early peek at the data suggested the shots may be a surprisingly robust 90% effective at preventing COVID-19. “We’re in a position potentially to be able to offer some hope,” Dr Bill Gruber, Pfizer’s senior vice president of clinical development, told The Associated Press. “We’re very encouraged.”

    Reacting to the celebrations, Dr Rahman said the vaccine would not be suitable for Pakistan owing to multiple problems, especially the storage issue.

    According to the task force chairman, the vaccine needs to be kept at a temperature of -80 °C, which was a major problem for third world countries, including Pakistan.

    “We should not think much about this vaccine, instead focus on other vaccines that are being developed and have seen similar results but haven’t been announced with fanfare. They are working quietly,” said Dr Rahman.

    It may be noted here that the number of coronavirus cases are soaring across Pakistan amid resurgence of the virus. On Monday, Pakistan registered over 1,500 infections and over a dozen deaths.

    The government, as a result, has tighten restrictions to curb the infection rate.

    PFIZER VACCINE:

    Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top-infectious disease expert, said the results suggesting 90% effectiveness are “just extraordinary,” adding: “Not very many people expected it would be as high as that.”

    “It’s going to have a major impact on everything we do with respect to COVID,” Fauci said.

    Pharmaceutical companies and various countries are in a global race to develop a vaccine against the virus. Fauci said that the Pfizer vaccine and virtually all others in testing target the spike protein the coronavirus uses to infect cells, so the results validate that approach.

    Monday’s announcement doesn’t mean a vaccine is imminent: This interim analysis, from an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the US and five other countries. Some participants got the vaccine, while others got dummy shots.

    Pfizer Inc. did not provide any more details about those infections and cautioned that the initial protection rate might change by the time the study ends. Even revealing such early data is highly unusual.

    Authorities have stressed it’s unlikely any vaccine will arrive much before the end of the year, and initial supplies will be rationed.