(REUTERS): A Pakistani lab will soon receive Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine for commercial sale, according to a company official, making Pakistan one of the first countries to market shots privately.
Pakistan agreed this week to allow the commercial import and sale of vaccines without price caps, in contrast to most countries, which are importing and administering vaccines through government channels.
Talking to an international news agency, Chughtai Lab director Omar Chughtai said, “We are told that the first shipment is expected within the next week,” adding that the lab aims to import the other vaccines as well, but Sputnik V was the first to become available.
Chughtai declined to specify import costs or prices but said the price would ‘appear inflated’ compared to what has been reported for Sputnik V globally. Sputnik V’s developers have said the two-dose vaccine would be sold at $10 per dose.
“Internationally there is very high demand, and I would not be surprised if the price points are higher today,” Chughtai said, adding that prices will come down over the next three to four months as more vaccine becomes available.
However, Health Minister Faisal Sultan told the news agency that he was “not directly aware” of the deal. Sputnik V is one of four vaccines approved for emergency use in Pakistan, in addition to those by China’s Sinopharm and CanSinoBio, and the AstraZeneca-Oxford University shot.
The government launched a vaccination drive this month with 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine donated by longtime ally China. But aside from the donated Chinese doses, Islamabad has not completed any deals to buy vaccines.
