A health worker holds a vial of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. File photo

Pakistan has secured 17 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine under a global scheme to deliver coronavirus treatments to developing nations, says planning minister.

A government health official said the country will receive vaccine under WHO’s COVAX Facility, out of which up to 7 million would arrive by March.

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Asad Umar in his Saturday night tweet said also a plane is being sent to China to bring the first tranche of half a million doses of Sinopharm’s vaccine – enough to inoculate 250,000 out of 400,000 health workers.

Picture shown for illustrative purposes only.

He said the rest of the AstraZeneca vaccine would be delivered in the second half of the year.

About 6 million of the doses will arrive in the first quarter of 2021 under the COVAX scheme, with the remainder due by mid-year, Faisal Sultan, special assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, said in a statement.

Pakistan signed up last year to the vaccine sharing scheme coordinated by the World Health Organization to support lower-income countries.

"We remain confident that we will meet our plan of large-scale immunisation over the coming months this year," Sultan said.