US donates 2.5 million Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses to Pakistan

Pakistan has received 2.5 million doses of the Moderna mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 from the United States.

Charge d' Affaires at the US embassy here Angela P. Aggeler said the vaccines, which arrived at Islamabad International Airport, would save lives and help Pakistan emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, which had devastated so many families and communities in both countries.

The latest donation is part of 80 million doses the US is sharing with the world, delivering on its pledge to facilitate equitable global access to safe and effective vaccines.

Pakistan has been so far reliant on three vaccines -- Sinopharm, CanSinoBio, and Sinovac -- all provided by China, to fuel its immunisation programme.

Pakistan has vaccinated around five per cent of its total population and 10 per cent of those eligible with at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

According to documents available with Dawn, there are over 125 million people (over 18 years of age) eligible for vaccination in Pakistan. So far, over 20.9 million people have registered themselves for vaccination in the country.

Over two million people have been fully vaccinated in Punjab, one million in Sindh, 460,000 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 200,000 in Islamabad, 150,000 in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and over 60,000 each in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.

In May, Pakistan received 1.2 million AstraZeneca vaccines through the Covax initiative, and more are on the way.

"We appreciate the ongoing collaboration with the Pakistani government and our international partners to make this delivery and these goals a reality," the US official said.

( With inputs from ANI )