KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) today (Thursday) has permitted the private company, which had imported Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, to begin selling it amid the third wave of the deadly pandemic.
The statements in the SHC came during the hearing of an appeal by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) against the release of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
During the hearing, the company’s lawyer told the court the government had set the tariff on the vaccine after his client had imported the vaccine, therefore, it does not apply to the company’s imported vaccine.
The lawyer also assured that it would voluntarily provide details about the market price of the vaccine. The court opined that regardless of the motives behind the petition, people should be inoculated as soon as possible.
“It will be inappropriate to halt vaccination in this situation”, said the court. The court further said the hearing on the petition filed regarding the price of the vaccine would continue.
It is worth mentioning here that according to the company’s formula, the rate of two doses of Sputnik V vaccine would be Rs12,268. A day earlier, the government of Pakistan was ordered by the SHC to fix the price of Sputnik V within the next seven days.
