WASHINGTON: The US government will ship 2.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan on Thursday, bringing the total number of doses sent to the South Asian country to about 18.3 million, more than any other country, a White House official said.
The latest shipments of the vaccine lots made by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, are due to arrive on Saturday via the COVAX distribution program, said the official, who asked to remain unidentified.
Pakistan has administered at least 93.6 million doses so far, according to data compiled by Reuters. Assuming every person needs two doses, that would suffice to have vaccinated about 21.6 percent of the country’s population.
Previous US shipments of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have gone to Pakistan every month since June.
The shipment is part of an ongoing US vaccine diplomacy effort that has sent vaccines to dozens of countries.