Pakistan Approves 2 Vaccines for Emergency Use
In welcoming, hopeful news breaking this past weekend, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has granted approval and Emergency Use Authorization across the country for two foreign vaccines produced by Chinese and British-Swedish pharmaceutical companies. The first to receive approval and an EUA on Friday, January 15th, 2021 is the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca that worked with the team from Oxford University on a coronavirus vaccine. The second to receive approval is the Chinese pharma company, Sinopharm on Saturday, January 16th, 2021.
DRAP announced their approvals and EUA grants for the two vaccines while meetings were being held between Thursday, January 14th and Monday, January 18th in regards to reviewing the vaccine results presented by Pakistan’s government-run National Institute of Health (NIH).
DRAP approved and granted an EUA for the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, making the AZO vaccine the first to receive approval in Pakistan. AstraZeneca had announced the efficacy of their vaccine at a high rate of 90% in November 2020. This was followed by approval and deployment for administering the vaccine in the United Kingdom and India, and then in Pakistan.
The federal government of Pakistan had set aside $150 Million for the procurement of 1.2 Million doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccinations since late in 2020. The Pakistan Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain had been in talks with Sinopharm’s subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNGB) which developed the vaccine. Sinopharm had announced 79% efficacy on December 30th, 2020 for the third phase of their clinical trials, which was followed by DRAP announcing their approval and EUA grant for it this past weekend.
Meanwhile, China’s CanSino Biologics biotechnology company is currently running phase three clinical trials led by Pakistan’s NIH for their Ad5-nCoV vaccine candidate with hopes of high efficacy and a prompt approval/EUA.
The Special Assistant on Health to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Dr. Faisal Sultan told Reuters, “We have and are watching the evolving stories around efficacy of a number of vaccines.” He added in regards to administration of the vaccine in Pakistan: “Our aim is that the bulk of the population will be covered free.” The timeline for the CanSinoBio vaccine is for the preliminary results to be logged in by mid-February 2021. He also added that Pakistan might consider engaging with Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as well.
With the AstraZeneca vaccine, there are a few comparisons in price and efficacy that must be made clear. While this vaccine costs much less in comparison to its US counterparts like Pfizer and Moderna at a mere dollars per shot, and storing it is easier due to its normal fridge temperature requirement, the efficacy is also lower than the costlier options.
As of today, January 19th, the coronavirus numbers in Pakistan alone are at 523,011 confirmed cases, 11,055 deaths, and an approximate 1,800 new cases per day. On the fortunate side, over 476,000 people have also recovered from the virus. Due to the rapid rise in cases, several parts of the metropolitan cities of Pakistan are going into smart lockdowns with upto 17 neighbourhoods locked up in Lahore alone till January 29th and 3 in Gujranwala until January 25th. According to the report by Samaa TV, Canal View, Askari X, DHA, Sui Gas Society and Allama Iqbal Town as well as private/public offices, shopping malls, markets and restaurants in these areas are the COVID-19 hotspots under the smart lockdown scheme. Additionally, gatherings of more than 5 people have been restricted with stores being given strict time restrictions: 9am to 7pm for grocery stores and pharmacies, and 7am to 7pm for milk, fish, and meat shops.
Stay tuned with Media Quotient Inc. for more on the vaccine developments in Pakistan and who will be able to get vaccinated first.
Credit: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters
