The Foreign
Office spokesman while confirming Russia's offer to supply COVID-19 vaccine to
Pakistan said that formal suggestions have been received in this regard.
Foreign
Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry said that Russia had offered to supply
the vaccine and Pakistan was still in touch with various sources to get the
vaccine on time.
"We are
trying to get the most effective vaccine at a reasonable price.”
Zahid Hafeez
Chaudhry said that suggestions have been received from Russia in this regard,
which has been sent to the Ministry of Health.
The Foreign
Office spokesman said that the Ministry of Health was reviewing the rules,
results and tests in this regard.
It may be
recalled that Dr. Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for
Health had said in a press conference on December 2, regarding the acquisition
of Corona vaccine, that the first phase is expected to start in the first quarter of 2021.
He said 150
million had been approved by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for the
coronavirus vaccine, which was approved by the cabinet today.
He had said
that 7 points were taken into consideration for the approval of the vaccine and
under it, various companies were shortlisted and regular preliminary talks have
been started with them.
Dr. Faisal
Sultan said that the first priority for the use of vaccines would be the first
line medical staff engaged in the treatment of Covid, then those who are more
at risk due to age, then other medical staff, and later the public number.
He said the request had been made to form a committee to make the vaccine process
transparent, which had been approved by the cabinet.
To the question, Dr. Faisal Sultan had said that the world was surprised at the success of Pakistan in the first wave and now they are in the middle of the second wave and if steps like the first wave are taken, better results are
expected.
He said that
if I say that the vaccine will come in one or two, four weeks, it will be
fixed, but I think that the first phase will start in the first quarter of
2021.
Dr. Faisal
Sultan did not say anything about the offer from Russia or any other country,
but now the Foreign Office has confirmed the formal offer.
It may be
recalled that the number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan has now crossed
416,000 and its rate during the last 24 hours have been 7.9 percent.
According to
the first monthly response monitoring report released by the Free and Fair
Election Network and the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability's Covid
19 response, 313,431 cases were reported on September 30, compared to 333,970
on October 31. The death toll rose from 6,499 to 6,823.
With the outbreak of the second wave of coronavirus in the country, reports say, there
are serious administrative hurdles to health policy and implementation that, if
left unchecked, could lead to the first wave of the global epidemic. Benefits
can be lost and compromised.
According to
experts, the second wave of Corona is more 'deadly' than the first wave.
Recently,
government officials appealed to religious scholars to ensure the
implementation of SOPs in mosques to reduce the spread of corona.
Earlier,
President Arif Ali issued a declaration to restore the agreed SOPs for
collective prayers in mosques and imam-dargahs.
