Pakistan has signed an agreement with Pfizer Pakistan for 13 million doses of the American vaccine.

The agreement was signed by Pfizer Pakistan and the National Disaster Manage­ment Authority (NDMA) to supply 13 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (BNT162b2).

Deliveries are planned during the course of 2021, Dawn reported.

“We are deeply honored to work with the Pakistani government and to marshal our scientific and manufacturing resources toward our shared goal of bringing a Covid-19 vaccine to the people of Pakistan as quickly as possible,” said Pfizer Pakistan Country Manager Syed Mohammad Wajeeh­uddin in a statement.

Pfizer and BioNTech aim to manufacture more than three billion doses of the vaccine globally by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) reported 30 deaths and 907 new cases in the last 24 hours, with the number of active cases recorded at 34,020.

A total of 630 diplomats and employees of UN agencies have been vaccinated at the NIH, the institute’s data revealed.

An official of the NIH, requesting not to be named, said according to rules, only Pakistani nationals were entitled to the free vaccine, but last month it was decided to allow diplomats and employees of UN agencies to avail the facility.

“So far over 630 people from 57 countries have been vaccinated,” he said.

Replying to a question, the official said the diplomats were given the choice from available vaccines and the majority opted for Chinese vaccines.

“Some of the diplomats wanted to be inoculated with AstraZeneca. There was also a demand for Pfizer, but they were told that the American vaccine could only be given to immuno-compromised persons,” he said.

So far 100,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine have arrived under Covax, an international alliance that has pledged free vaccine for 20 percent population of Pakistan.

(SAM)