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(Updates with confirmation from Russia)
By Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Russia's Sputnik V has become
the third COVID-19 vaccine to be approved by Pakistan for
emergency use after China's Sinopharm and the one developed by
AstraZeneca and Oxford University, the country's health minister
said on Tuesday.
"Sputnik has received EUA (emergency use authorisation),"
the minister, Faisal Sultan, told Reuters in a text message.
Pakistan has become the 22nd country to approve Sputnik V,
the Russian Direct Investment Fund, responsible for marketing
the vaccine abroad, said.
It is to be administered in two shots, three weeks apart,
has a six-month shelf life and is stored at -18 Celsius,
according to a document on the vaccine's authorisation.
The authorisation to M/s AGP Ltd, Karachi, is valid until
April 1, 2021, the document said, adding it was for immunisation
of those aged 18 and over.
A fourth vaccine candidate, developed by CanSino Biologics
Inc (CanSinoBIO), has also completed clinical trials in the
South Asian nation of 220 million people, showing 65.7% efficacy
in symptomatic cases and a 90.98% success rate in severe cases
in an interim analysis of global trials, Sultan said on Monday.
He said its efficacy in the Pakistani subset at preventing
symptomatic cases was 74.8%. It was 100% for preventing severe
disease.
CanSinoBio's single-dose regimen and normal refrigerator
storage requirement could make it a favourable option for many
countries.
AJ Pharma led CanSinoBIO's trial to import the vaccine vials
initially before filling them in Pakistan, the first company to
do so locally.
Sultan said Pakistan could get shots "in the range of tens
of millions" under an agreement with the Chinese firm.
Pakistan has launched its vaccination drive with 500,000
doses of Sinopharm donated by longtime ally China, giving shots
to frontline health workers as a priority.
Pakistan has also secured 17 million doses of the
AstraZeneca vaccine under a global scheme to deliver coronavirus
treatments to developing nations.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Additional Reporting by Polina
Ivanova in Moscow;
Editing by Gareth Jones, Ed Osmond and Alison Williams)
