US donates 9.6mn additional Covid vaccine doses to Pakistan

Washington [US], October 16 (ANI): As many as 9.6 million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are being shipped by the United States to Pakistan through the global vaccine-sharing COVAX initiative, a media report said on Friday.
The American Embassy in Islamabad said that this latest donation brings the total of COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by Washington to Pakistan to over 25 million doses, Voice of America (VOA) reported.
US Charge d'affaires Angela Aggeler, the United States is proud to partner with Pakistan to get effective, life-saving Pfizer vaccinations into the arms of Pakistanis people. "This donation comes just in time for young Pakistanis over age 12 to get their first jabs," Aggeler added.
This donation comes at a time when COVID-19 infections are decreasing in Pakistan, with fewer than 1,000 new daily cases reported on average. Last week, the Pakistani government had eased restrictions on public movement, education activities and businesses.
According to the government data, Pakistan has so far reported 1,262,771 confirmed cases of infections, and 28,228 COVID-19-related deaths.
On Friday, officials reported that over 95 million doses have been administered in the country, including roughly 1 million in the last 24 hours alone.
The national vaccination drive was rolled out in February. Pakistan has largely relied on Chinese vaccines. However, in recent months, US donations are helping officials overcome shortages of Western-developed anti-coronavirus shots, VOA reported.
"These Pfizer vaccines are part of the 500 million Pfizer doses the United States purchased this summer to deliver to 92 countries worldwide, including Pakistan, to fulfil President [Joe] Biden's commitment to provide safe and effective vaccines around the world and supercharge the global fight against the pandemic," the US Embassy noted in its statement. (ANI)