-Pakistan to receive 1st batch of AstraZeneca Vaccine before April
-DRAP permits China’s Anhui Zhifei for Vaccine’s clinical trials
By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani lab will soon receive Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine for commercial sale, a company official said on Sunday, making Pakistan one of the first countries to market shots privately as it scrambles to secure supplies.
Despite concerns over fairness and higher prices, Islamabad agreed this week to allow the commercial import and sale of vaccines without price caps, in contrast to most countries, which are importing and administering vaccines through government channels. “We are told the first shipment is expected within the next week,” Chughtai Lab director Omar Chughtai said, adding it would be receiving several thousand doses. Pakistan’s decision to allow private sales of vaccine without a price cap in a lower-income country of 220 million people faces criticism.
Former health minister Zafar Mirza, while praising government efforts to procure and distribute free vaccine, said that avoiding a price cap for private sales “will deepen inequality in society at a time when there is a need to have widespread coverage.” The government launched a vaccination drive this month with 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine donated by longtime ally China. But aside from the donated Chinese doses, Islamabad has not completed any deals to buy vaccines.
Sputnik V is one of four vaccines approved for emergency use in Pakistan, in addition to those by China’s Sinopharm and CanSinoBio, and the AstraZeneca-Oxford University shot. Chughtai Lab aims to import the others as well, but Sputnik V was the first to become available, Chughtai said. Health Minister Faisal Sultan said in a message he was “not directly aware” of the deal.
Chughtai declined to specify import costs or prices but said the price would “appear inflated” compared to what has been reported for Sputnik V globally, given the smaller volume it was planning to sell relative to global procurement. Sputnik V’s developers have said the two-dose vaccine would be sold at $10 per dose.
“Internationally there is very high demand, and I would not be surprised if the price points are higher today,” Chughtai said, adding that prices will come down over the next three to four months as more vaccine becomes available. “The biggest challenge around the vaccines globally right now is allocation to specific countries,” he said. Chughtai said his Lahore-based pathology lab had turned down “grey market” offers from people in various countries who had “extra vaccine” not officially meant for re-export.
The lab is importing Sputnik V through Pakistani firm Ali Gohar Pharmaceuticals Pvt and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is responsible for marketing the vaccine abroad. Chughtai said he expected an official government decree in the next two days specifying rules on inoculations by the private sector, including on registration of recipients. The company expects to receive shipments every four to five days. Meanwhile, British High Commission in Pakistan on Sunday has stated that 17 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine would soon reach Pakistan.
“The first consignment of seven million doses of AstraZeneca Covid vaccine will reach Pakistan before April,” British High Commission in Islamabad said in a statement. “Next 10 million doses of the vaccine will be dispatched to Pakistan before June,” according to the statement.
Pakistan has secured 17 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine under the COVAX arrangement.
The COVAX facility is an initiative by the World Health Organization to ensure fair distribution of the coronavirus vaccines around the world. “AstraZeneca vaccine will benefit around 8.5 million Pakistani citizens”, British mission said.
“Pakistan will receive overall 45 million COVID-19 vaccine doses under the COVAX scheme this year,” according to the statement. “The people of the UK and Pakistan will fight alongside against the coronavirus,” British High Commissioner Christian Turner has said. “The United Kingdom has provided 20 million Pounds aid to Pakistan for its fight against the pandemic,” the envoy said. The WHO has declared that AstraZeneca vaccine has been safe for the people with 18 years of age to 65 years and above. It is to be mentioned here that a new trial is scheduled this month to test how well the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine works in children.
Moreover, Pakistan’s drug regulator on Sunday has granted permission to a Chinese company for third phase clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the country. “The clinical trials committee of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has granted permission to China’s Anhui Zhifei longcom for clinical trials of its vaccine,” sources said.
China’s bio-pharmaceutical company, Anhui Zhifei had sought permission for clinical trials in Pakistan in December 2020, sources said. The Chinese pharma company initially, will conduct third phase clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in Karachi and Lahore.
Anhui Zhifei longcom will conduct its vaccine’s clinical trials in Karachi at a private hospital, while in Lahore at the University of Health Sciences and another private health facility, according to sources. “In Pakistan 9,000 volunteers will participate in clinical trials of the Anhui Zhifei vaccine,” sources said.
According to sources, Anhui Zhifei had prepared its Covid vaccine in May 2020 under the aegis of the Chinese Company of Sciences. The company had conducted the phase I and phase II trials in June 2020, in which the vaccine was found safe and effective against the disease.
Around 29,000 volunteers are participating in third phase of the clinical trials of the vaccine in different countries. Anhui Zhifei has been second Chinese company holding trials of its vaccine in Pakistan. Earlier, CanSino Bio has completed clinical trials of its vaccine in Pakistan.
