Pakistan approves Sinopharm and Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines for 60 and above

ISLAMABAD: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) on Friday announced that it was approving two coronavirus vaccines– China’s Sinopharm and Russia’s Sputnik V– for people aged 60 and above.

The decision was taken following a meeting of the authority. Sinopharm, it is important to mention here, was already being used to vaccinate frontline health workers against the novel coronavirus.

The DRAP officials said that until now, the Sinopharm vaccine was being administered to people up to the age of 60 years, however, it would now be used to inoculate citizens above 60 years of age too.

Shedding more light on the basis of the decision, the officials said they made the call after examining data from China, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, Pakistan will be among the biggest recipients of free COVID-19 vaccines before June — more than 10 million doses — the COVAX scheme had announced on Tuesday.