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Pakistan plans to buy at least 10 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine — ambassador

According to Shafqat Ali Khan, Pakistan wants to produce Sputnik V vaccine and is in talks with Russia about such an option

MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/. Pakistan intends to purchase at least 10 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Pakistani Ambassador to Moscow Shafqat Ali Khan stated this in an interview with TASS.

"Ten million doses of Sputnik V we are going to get from Russia," he said.

"The first vaccine we got from China, and the second is COVAX, some of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines we have procured, and the third is now the Russian vaccine is rolling in. Just few days back our authorities announced that the first one million doses of Russian vaccine Sputnik V are already there," the diplomat said.

According to him, Pakistan wants to produce Sputnik V vaccine and is in talks with Russia about such an option.

"Pakistan population is so big, more than 200 million people. We can't import all of the vaccines. We have made our interest known, the two technical sides are talking to each other, but right now the priority was procurement," he said.

The ambassador noted that Sputnik V became a victim of its own success because everyone wants to receive it but Russia cannot produce it in such volumes. That is why part of the vaccines should be produced in countries with big population, the diplomat said.

"We congratulate Russia on this very great achievement in terms of the development of the vaccine so fast and so effectively. And I think we were one of the first embassies where everyone got it and frankly it saved all of us from any trouble," the ambassador told TASS.