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(Updates with more details, background)
By Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD, April 29 (Reuters) - Pakistan has purchased 13
million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from three Chinese companies,
its health minister told Reuters on Thursday.
Faisal Sultan said Pakistan had procured the vaccine from
Sinopharm, CanSinoBio and Sinovac.
The purchased vaccine is expected to begin arriving in May
with 6.7 mln doses and the rest in June.
He didn't give a breakdown of how many shots each were
supplying, saying there could be some plus and minus for each
given the pressure on companies.
"We will be continuously procuring from all available
sources across the world," he said. "For now, China remains the
primary source for vaccines to meet our present and ongoing
needs but all our options are open for effective and safe
vaccines," he said.
Sultan said first tranche of GAVI/COVAX programme that was
due early March would also be arriving to add to the latest
procurement.
"We are likely to get around 2.4 million doses of
AstraZeneca vaccine under GAVI/COVAX over the period of May and
June," he said, adding that "the possible source for this
initial tranche may be South Korea."
COVID cases have been rising steadily in the South Asian
nation of 220 million which recorded 201 deaths on Tuesday, the
highest since the pandemic began.
The Health ministry said total deaths crossed 17,680 with
over 150 on Thursday with 5,480 coronavirus cases adding to a
total of 815,711.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Toby Chopra)
