Pakistan receives 2.5m Moderna jabs from US

Aggeler says these vaccines will save lives and help Pakistan emerge from coronavirus crisis

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan has received 2.5 million doses of Moderna Inc’s Covid-19 vaccine donated by the United States under its partnership with the COVAX global vaccine initiative, UNICEF and the federal government, the Foreign Office, and the US embassy in Islamabad said on Friday.

The United States donated the doses through the COVAX facility, which aims to provide vaccines to developing countries. Pakistan has so far relied heavily on China to provide vaccines, three of which – Sinopharm, CanSinoBio, and Sinovac – are being used in the country.

“These vaccines will give a boost to ongoing vaccination drive in Pakistan,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafiz Chaudhri posted on Twitter. “Deeply appreciate continued support by the US in our fight against the pandemic.”

The US embassy said the vaccines were a donation and formed part of the 80 million doses the US was sharing with the world. “The United States Mission to Pakistan is pleased to share these safe and effective vaccines with the people of Pakistan,” US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Angela Aggeler said.

“These vaccines will save lives and help Pakistan emerge from this crisis, which has devastated so many families and communities in both our countries. A vaccinated public will also help bring back the economic and social interactions we all welcome,” Aggeler added.
The embassy further said in its press release that in addition to vaccine donation, the US had delivered nearly $50 million in Covid assistance “through our partnership” with the Pakistani government, since the start of the pandemic.

“We have worked together to improve infection prevention and control, enhance patient care, expand laboratory testing, disease monitoring, and case tracking in all districts, and support frontline healthcare workers,” Aggeler said.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre, which supervised the government’s strategy to cope with the pandemic, more than 16.356 million doses had been administered across the country, till June 30.

The NCOC said on Friday the national tally of active Covid-19 cases rose slightly to reach 31,910, as 1,277 more people tested positive for the virus while 1,110 people recovered from the disease during the last 24 hours. The national positivity ratio remained at 2.72%, it added.

The NCOC said in its daily update that 24 patients died during past 24 hours, 21 of whom were under treatment in the hospitals, including 11 on ventilators. Most of the deaths, 11, occurred in Sindh and followed by 6 in Punjab, it added.
As of Friday, there were 1,863 Covid infected patients under treatment in critical condition, including 228 on ventilators, while 19 patients were admitted to various Covid-dedicated healthcare facilities of the country during past 24 hours.

Some 46,941 tests were conducted across the country on Wednesday, including 13,935 in Sindh, 19,157 in Punjab, 9,555 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), 1,956 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 962in Balochistan, 676 in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), and 700 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Since the pandemic broke out, a total of 959,685 cases were detected – AJK 20,405, Balochistan 27,242, G-B 6,239, ICT 82,779, K-P 138,179, Punjab 346,454 and Sindh 338,387. Among them 905,430 people have recovered from the disease so far, depicting over 90% recovery ratio.

The nationwide death toll rose to 22,345 on Wednesday. Among them 5,478 people perished in Sindh, 10,761 in Punjab4,324 in K-P, 779 in ICT, 309 in Balochistan, 111 in G-B and 583 people in AJK, the NCOC said.