Pakistan backtracks on uncapped prices for privately imported COVID shots

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has reversed its decision to allow uncapped prices for COVID-19 vaccines imported by private firms, the health minister said on Thursday, a move that coincided with the arrival of a first shipment of privately imported Russian Sputnik V shots.

Pakistan, with a population of 220 million and largely reliant on the COVAX vaccine sharing initiative for poorer nations, last month allowed private firms to import coronavirus vaccines and agreed to exempt them from price caps. "Now, however, there is a formula, already in vogue, to determine maximum price," minister Faisal Sultan told Reuters. "So yes, there is a price cap that DRAP (Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan) will recommend and get approval for."