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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan The coronavirus was ravaging Pakistan and Muhammad Nasir Chaudhry was worried. Long queues and tight supplies have plagued the government’s free vaccination campaign. The newspapers were filled with reports of well-connected people skipping the line for a free dose.
Then Mr. Chaudhry, a 35-year-old government consultant, found he could pay for himself to avoid the long lines. He signed up to take two doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine for about $ 80 at a private hospital. That’s a lot of money in a country where the average worker earns around $ 110 a month, but Mr. Chaudhry was willing to commit.
Critics have attacked such private sales in Pakistan and around the world, claiming they only make vaccines accessible to the wealthy. But in Pakistan, as elsewhere, tight supplies have hampered these efforts. Private hospitals are running out of supplies and Mr. Chaudhry has still not been vaccinated.
I’m willing to pay double the price for the vaccine, but I don’t want to wait forever, Chaudhry said.
Access to the coronavirus vaccine has thrown a harsh light on global inequalities. The United States and other wealthy countries have purchased most of the world’s vaccine supplies to protect their own populations, leaving millions of doses stored and, in some places, unused. Less developed countries are scrambling over what is left.
To speed up vaccinations, some countries have allowed the private sale of doses. But these campaigns have been marred by supply issues and complaints that they simply reflect global disparities.
The Pakistani example is a microcosm of what went wrong with the global response where wealth alone has mostly shaped who has access to it, said Zain Rizvi, access to medicines expert at Public Citizen, an advocacy group. Washington, DC, in an email. To end the pandemic, the global community will need to do much more than that.
India sells vaccines to private hospitals, although they are scrambling to find supplies now that the pandemic is so severe. Kenya allowed private sales, then blocked them for fear that counterfeit vaccines could be sold. In the United States, some well-connected companies, like Bloomberg, have secured doses for employees.
Indonesia on Tuesday allowed companies to buy vaccines from the government to vaccinate their employees and family members for free. The only vaccine approved for this program to date is that manufactured by Sinopharm.
Pakistan says the private program could offer more free vaccines to low-income people. By purchasing doses of the Russian-made Sputnik 5 vaccine, the country’s wealthy would not need to get the free doses, which are made by Sinopharm of China. Some people would prefer to be vaccinated in a private hospital, as they are generally believed to be comparatively better organized and efficient than overwhelmed government facilities.
Pakistan’s needs are increasing. The country of nearly 220 million people reports more than 2,500 new infections a day, but its low testing rate suggests that many more cases go undetected. The government has tightened restrictions and limited public gatherings.
But the government’s vaccination campaign has been slow. He started giving doses to people over 40 this month. Younger children may have to wait several months.
Strained global supplies are to blame, said Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Pakistan’s information minister. In addition to the Sputnik and Sinopharm vaccines, Pakistan earlier this month received 1.3 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Covax, the international vaccine promotion body, and is expected to receive 3.5 million doses of the vaccine. Sinovac from China by the end of May. .
Private sales have sparked a heated debate in a country where the economy has stalled due to the pandemic and long-standing issues like lack of foreign investment and heavy public debt. Critics say the decision will deepen divisions within the country, where much of society lives below the poverty line.
The government did not consider the suffering of the poor while allowing importers to sell the vaccine, said Dr Mirza Ali Azhar, head of the Pakistan Medical Association, the nationwide health professional body. . Such discriminatory policies will increase the feeling of deprivation among poor young people, especially those with weakened immune systems.
Mr. Chaudhry, the Minister of Information, played down the question of prices, saying that private vaccines could not meet the needs of the public anyway.
Another problem with the initiative was that hospitals cannot find vaccines to buy. Demand has been strong. The government sets a price cap, but has been locked in a dispute with private importers over how much should be.
In April, in the city of Karachi, long lines formed when two private hospitals began selling the Sputnik V vaccine to walk-in people. Private hospitals in Islamabad, the capital, and Lahore faced similar crowds and ran out of resources within days. Hospitals in major cities have now stopped offering walk-in visits and online registrations have also been suspended.
Sputnik V is not the only vaccine the government allows for private sale. A single dose injection manufactured by CanSino Biologics of China costs around $ 28. Demand has been lower due to greater public confidence in the Russian vaccine. Still, supplies sold out quickly after doses of CanSino went on sale last month. The government has announced that 13.2 million more doses will arrive in June.
AGP Limited, a private pharmaceutical company that imported 50,000 doses of Sputnik, urges patience.
Sputnik V received an overwhelming response in Pakistan with thousands of people vaccinated within days and an even higher number of confirmed records in hospitals in Pakistan, said Umair Mukhtar, a senior official at AGP Limited. He said the company has placed large orders for more.
The government’s price dispute could delay further expansion. The drug regulator wants Sputnik V to be sold at a lower price. AGP obtained an interim court order on April 1 to sell the vaccine until a final price was set.
For those who can afford the doses, the frustration grows. Junaid Jahangir, an Islamabad-based lawyer, said several of his friends had received private vaccines. He registered with a private lab for Sputnik V, but later received an SMS saying the vaccination campaign was on hold.
Junaid Jahangir, an Islamabad-based lawyer, registered with a private lab for Sputnik V but later received a text message saying the vaccination campaign was on hold.
I am denied a fair chance to fight this virus if I end up getting infected, Mr Jahangir said. The demand is there, and I don’t see what could be the reason for the inefficient supply.
Some of the people who paid for private doses justified their decision by citing reports in the media that well-connected people were skipping the line to get free public doses. In May, at least 18 low-level health workers were suspended by authorities in Lahore for having in turn vaccinated people after receiving bribes.
Talk show host and actor Iffat Omar publicly apologized in April for getting ahead of the line to get the vaccine. I’m sorry, she said on Twitter. I am ashamed. I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I will repent.
Fiza Batool Gilani, an entrepreneur and daughter of Yusuf Raza Gilani, the former prime minister, said she knew several young people who skipped the line and received the free government vaccine in recent weeks.
I was offered a free vaccine in turn, but I refused because I wanted to benefit from the private vaccine, Ms. Gilani said. Wealthy people would have to pay for their doses, she said, adding that her family would pay for CanSino’s injections for her household staff.
Many people, like Tehmina Sadaf, do not have this option.
Ms. Sadaf, 35, lives with her husband and a 7-year-old son in a popular area on the outskirts of Islamabad. Her husband is a clerk in a mosque. She gives Koran lessons to young children. She said the pandemic had negatively impacted family income of around $ 128 per month. After paying the rent for the house and the electric bill, we don’t have much left, she said.
She had doubts about the public vaccine, but the price of the private vaccine is very high, she said. It should have been lower so that poor people like us could also afford it.
Zia ur-Rehman contributed reporting from Karachi, Pakistan. Richard C. Paddock and Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting.
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