Dr Faisal Sultan welcomes Gavi's support in uplifting state of immunization
Pakistan will likely enter Gavi's Accelerated Transition phase before 2025
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Faisal Sultan has welcomed the Gavi’s support to the government of Pakistan in uplifting the state of immunization.
“We highly appreciate the cooperation and support of Gavi for strengthening the health system and providing maximum support in the provision of vaccine in the country,” Dr. Faisal said during his meeting with the mission delegation.
“We really look forward to our future collaboration and all the initiatives that help us to further enhance our system and capacities to uplift the state of immunization in Pakistan,” he maintained.
Dr Faisal said, “We are really grateful for all financial support for the future and we are very positive about this future collaboration to achieve our immunization goals.”
“We are here to provide the maximum support to uplift the state of immunization in Pakistan said, Alexa Reynolds said.
She added, “We anticipate that COVAX will aim to provide enough doses to vaccinate approximately 45 million people or more in Pakistan, through a combination of free doses and dose-sharing.”
She mentioned, that Pakistan will likely enter Gavi’s “Accelerated Transition” phase before 2025, making this Pakistan’s last five-year period of Gavi support.
She said, “We also look forward to the synergy between EPI and PEI in the future as we hope that such development will bring the positive outcome for strengthening the health system.”
National Program Manager Dr. Muhammad Akram Shah, thanked the delegation members for their week-long visit to Pakistan to better understand the current state of immunization and the challenges.
The delegation of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance comprising of Ms. Alexa Reynolds, Senior Program Manager and Mr. Mario Jimenez, Program Manager visited Pakistan.
During their visit, the delegation met with the health leadership including Dr. Shehzad Baig, NEOC Coordinator, Dr Muhammad Akram Shah, National Program Manager, Federal EPI and Dr Yasmin Rashid, Provincial Minister of Punjab for Primary and Secondary Healthcare and many other important stakeholders during their visit.
The objective of the mission was to identify country needs in terms of immunization and to provide maximum support in future for the provision of vaccine through COVAX and to enhance the capacity of cold chain.
The mission also discussed future portfolio planning which would be particularly focusing on the immunization services, universal health coverage and health system strengthening in Pakistan.
