A Court in Pakistan on April 1st 2021, ordered a batch of the covid vaccine ‘Russian Sputnik V Covid-19’ which would be imported by a private company for distribution.
The Court asked for the vaccines to be immediately made available for sale to the public once they have been imported.
A Sindh HC judge to this effect stated, “Any restriction relating to sale of the Covid-19 vaccine at this stage would be against the public interest because of its undisputed urgent need due to the crisis faced by the country”
According to the Government, they wanted the settlement of the pricing issue before distribution.
The Court gave this order on April 1st on this matter that was brought forth last week on March 17 when 50,000 does of Sputnik V.
Pakistan was largely dependent on the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme. Private firms were allowed to import vaccines for Covid-19 only recently last month, exempting them from price caps. Later price caps were wanted so that a maximum price can be fixed
An official from AG Pharma said the company had asked the Court to allow the sale of the vaccines at 12,268 Pakistani rupees ($80.54) for a set comprising of two doses of Sputnik V. AGP claimed that it took the company $45 for getting a set that includes two doses.
The Court held that the price would be determined by latter hearings and the sale must start immediately once a fair price has been arrived at. Any monetery issues on the company can be recovered to them at any later stage.
This also makes Pakistan one of the countries in the world to start commercial distribution and sale of Covid-19 vaccines.
