(Writes through)
By Asif Shahzad and Syed Raza Hassan
ISLAMABAD, March 18 (Reuters) - Pakistan has reversed its
decision to allow uncapped prices for COVID vaccines imported by
private firms, the health minister said on Thursday, a move that
coincided with the arrival of a first shipment of privately
imported Russian Sputnik-V shots.
Pakistan, with a population of 220 million and largely
reliant on the COVAX vaccine sharing initiative for poorer
nations, last month allowed private firms to import coronavirus
vaccines and agreed to exempt them from price caps.
"Now, however, there is a formula, already in vogue, to
determine maximum price," minister Faisal Sultan told Reuters.
"So yes, there is a price cap that DRAP (Drug Regulatory
Authority of Pakistan) will recommend and get approval for."
An official with M/s AGP Ltd, the company that imported the
Sputnik shots, said a first shipment of 50,000 doses arrived on
Wednesday night and that it will be made available to the public
as soon as the government agreed on a price.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he
wasn't officially authorised to release the information.
Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), responsible for
marketing the Sputnik-V vaccine abroad, confirmed to Reuters
that a batch had been delivered to Pakistan.
The decision to allow commercial imports of vaccines with an
exemption on upper price caps had sparked criticism that it
would be unfair.
China's Sinopharm and CansinoBio, Sputnik-V and AstraZeneca
vaccines are approved for emergency use in Pakistan, which
hasn't secured any vaccine from manufacturing companies, relying
so far on donations.
The country is vaccinating frontline health workers and
older population with over one million doses of Sinopharm
donated by longtime ally China.
Pakistan is seeing a sharp increase in COVID cases. It has
recorded 615,810 coronavirus infections and 13,717 deaths, with
3,495 cases and 61 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, Syed Raza Hassan in
Karachi, Pakistan. Additional Reporting by Polina Ivanova in
Moscow; Editing by Toby Chopra)