Pakistan will soon get 'made-in-India' coronavirus vaccines under the United Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization or GAVI, a public-private global health partnership to increase access to immunisation in poor countries.
"Pakistan is one of the 92 lower-income economies eligible for support under the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (Gavi COVAX AMC)," GAVI spokesperson told NDTV.
14.64 million doses of Covishield- developed by Pune-based Serum Institute of India - have been allotted for the country between February and May, the spokesperson said.
Adar Poonawalla's Serum Institute is the world's largest vaccine maker. Pakistan has logged over 5.95 lakh cases of coronavirus so far.
India has supplied vaccines to 65 countries so far under three categories - as part of global vaccine alliance, in the form of grant or aid (free of cost), and through commercial sales. All of India's neighbours, except Pakistan, are among the countries that got these vaccines.
Afghanistan, Maldives, Nepal and Bangladesh began their vaccine rollout using 'made-in-India' vaccines.
Last year, the United GAVI alliance pledged to provide free vaccines for 20 per cent of the population of around 190 countries, including Pakistan. On Monday, Gita Gopinathan, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Chief Economist, said India was emerging as the vaccine manufacturing hub.
"India really stands out in terms of its vaccine policy. If you look at where exactly is one manufacturing hub for vaccines in the world - that will be India," she said.
Last month, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also praised India's commitment for supporting vaccine equity. "Thanks India & Prime Minister @narendramodi for supporting #VaccinEquity. Your commitment to #COVAX and sharing #COVID19 vaccine doses is helping 60+ countries start vaccinating their #healthworkers and other priority groups. I hope other countries will follow your example," he said in the tweet on Thursday.
Worldwide, more than 11 crore cases of coronavirus have been logged so far. With 1.12 crore cases, India logged the second highest number of infections after the United States.
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