ISLAMABAD: The United States and Germany have collectively supplied 12 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to Pakistan under the COVAX program, announced the diplomatic missions of the two countries on Wednesday.
COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, or COVAX, is a framework for the equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines among smaller or economically vulnerable nations which is supported by the World Health Organization.
The US, which also donated COVID-19 vaccines to Pakistan in the past, said it had contributed five million more Pfizer doses on Tuesday.
“Each vaccination brings us one step closer to ending the pandemic and being able to gather safely together in the new year,” the US embassy in Islamabad announced in a Twitter post. “Get vaccinated. Stay safe.”
Germany’s envoy to Pakistan Bernhard Schlagheck also said on the social media platform his country had handed over seven million more vaccine doses to Pakistan, taking its overall contribution to about 63 million.
He said Germany’s decision help Pakistan with the coronavirus vaccines was a testimony of the strong friendship between the two countries.
“Each of us is safe only once everybody is safe,” he added.
According to Pakistan’s official statistics, the country has fully vaccinated 62,547,553 people since the beginning of the vaccination drive earlier this year.
The government has administered 144,064,235 doses of various vaccines in total, though so far 89,792,114 people have only received the first dose.
Pakistan wants to increase the pace of its immunization campaign amid a rising number of omicron coronavirus cases in the world.
