Pakistan to let private sector import coronovirus jabs with no price caps

SAPM on Health Faisal Sultan while responding said this wouldn’t go unchecked, “We will continue monitoring the prices and obviously we will see their procurement price to see if there is any over-pricing, and the government always retains the right to intervene if there is any predatory practice.”

Right now, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca and Sputnik V are the only three candidates approved for emergency use in Pakistan.

The documents further disclose that the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination division of the health ministry had sought a special cabinet exemption to allow for COVID vaccine imports, while excluding the imported vaccines from the strict price ceiling that is usually applied to all drug sales within the country.

“No information was available; about import prices of vaccines from different sources,” says the document, adding: “In view of the above factual position, it might not be possible to fix a maximum retail price.”

SAPM on Health Faisal Sultan said that Pakistan still planned to inoculate its population for free and only a “small minority” who wished to pay for the shots would have that option in the open market. “Only those who wish to get it via private sector will pay anything,” he said. “Personally, my assessment is that when the vaccines are available and we have market competition, that will automatically set the prices.”

Whereas, the documents show the Federal cabinet has hunted suspension of some related regulations for six months to let the private sector determine the maximum price caps.

Health Minister Faisal Sultan confirmed the decision taken by cabinet by saying it was an “approval of the principle that private sector can import” and drive the pricing due to “the non-availability of a reference price”.

Experts have also questioned the decision to allow commercial imports and no price caps saying not setting a price limit for the private sector opens up the market for misuse.

With more than 550,000 COVID-19 cases and 12,000 deaths, Pakistan has yet to secure vaccines from any company and only this month launched a vaccination drive with 500,000 doses of Sinopharm’s vaccine that too donated by China. Whereas only 27,228 healthcare workers have so far been vaccinated.

Pakistan is mainly reliant on the GAVI/WHO COVAX vaccine initiative that is aiming to provide shots to poorer nations. With no timeline told, it has yet to receive 17 million doses via COVAX initiative.

*The data in this piece of writing has been taken from Reuters.