Pak Approves Sinopharm Covid Vaccine For Emergency Use

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has approved a Covid-19 vaccine by China's Sinopharm for emergency use amid an unabated resurgence in the country.

A handout by DRAP on its official website late Monday said that Sinopharm, one of the two vaccines approved by the authority, has been given emergency use authorization after evaluating its safety and quality, Xinhua news agency reported.

The handout added that the authorization will be reviewed every quarter keeping in view further data regarding safety, efficacy and quality.

Meanwhile, another vaccine manufactured by British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca was been given the authorization earlier, the handout said.

Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, the country's Minister for Science and Technology, told Xinhua earlier that the Sinopharm vaccine has been approved for procurement by a cabinet committee for its safety and affordability.

Pakistan reported 1,920 new coronavirus infections and 46 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 521,211 with 10,997 fatalities.