Chughtai’s laboratory will soon receive the Russian Sputnik V vaccine of Covid-19 for commercial sale, a company spokesman said on Sunday. This makes Pakistan one of the first countries to publish photos on the private market as it struggles to secure supplies.
Despite concerns about fairness and higher prices, Islamabad this week agreed to allow commercial imports and sales of vaccines without price restrictions. Unlike most countries that import and issue vaccines through government channels.
“We are told the first shipment is expected within the next week,” Omar Chughtai, director of the Chughtai laboratory, told. Adding that he would receive several thousand doses. He also confirmed the news on Twitter.
Pakistan’s decision to allow private sales of vaccines without price restrictions in a country. With incomes, lower than 220 million people have been criticized.
Former Deputy Prime Minister of Health, Dr. Zafar Mirza, praised the government’s efforts to procure and distribute free vaccines, and In addition said, avoiding price restrictions on private sales would. “will deepen inequality in society at a time when there is a need to have widespread coverage“.
The government this month launched a vaccination against 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine donated by China’s longtime ally. Apart from donating Chinese doses, Islamabad has yet to strike a deal to buy a vaccine.
Prices will look too much
Sputnik V is one of four emergency vaccines approved in Pakistan. Hence apart from those from Sinopharm China and CanSinoBio and injections from AstraZeneca University-Oxford.
Chughtai Lab plans to import the rest, but Sputnik V is the first to appear, Chughtai said.
The Prime Minister’s Special Advisor for Health Faisal Sultan told Reuters in a statement that he was “not directly aware“.
Chughtai declined to quote fees or import prices, but said prices would appear “up” compared to the report for Sputnik V globally. However, volumes were said to be lower compared to global orders.
Developers at Sputnik V say the two-dose vaccine sells for $ 10 per dose.
“There is a lot of international demand and I wouldn’t be surprised if prices were higher today,” Chughtai said. Including that prices would fall in the next three to four months as more vaccines emerged.
” The biggest challenge around the vaccines globally right now is allocation to specific countries,” he said.
Chughtai said the Lahore-based pathology laboratory had rejected “black market” offers. That is given from people in various countries in possession of “additional vaccines” not officially meant for re-export.
The laboratory imports Sputnik V through Pakistani company Ali Gohar Pharmaceuticals Pvt and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is responsible for marketing the vaccine abroad.
Chughtai said he expected a formal government decision in the next two days to establish rules for private sector vaccination, including recipient registration. In addition, the company expects delivery every four to five days.
