Arrival of shipment: Pakistan has received its first shipment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX facility on Saturday morning, according to the NCOC. The consignment contains 1,238,400 doses of the Oxford vaccine, and will be followed by around 1,236,000 more doses in the coming days. The arrival of these vaccines was lauded as it will speed up the PTI government’s historic effort to eliminate the pandemic in Pakistan. COVAX facility: The COVAX program was set up in April last year by the WHO and Gavi to provide vaccination supplies around the world to developing nations. The COVAX program promises to provide vaccines for 20% of the population of many countries, and Pakistan is also on that list. “It aims to provide at least two billion doses of approved Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2021, enabling the protection of frontline healthcare and social workers, as well as other high-risk and vulnerable groups in what will be the largest immunization campaign in history,” said the NCOC statement. R eputation of AstraZeneca: The use of the AstraZeneca vaccine has been debated and contested, as an unusual side effect of blood clotting has resulted from the use of this vaccine. Although rare, some cases of blood clotting in younger adults have been linked to use of this vaccine. It has been said that patients with low blood platelets may be prone to blood clotting through this vaccine, that is why under 40s are being offered alternate jabs. Furthermore, a death linked with the vaccine in Canada of a woman in her 50s has caused speculation.
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