KARACHI: US Consul General Mark Stroh and Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho welcomed the arrival of 320,580 new Pfizer vaccine doses sent by Washington through the Covax facility to the people of Sindh on Monday.

This shipment is part of a 6.6 million Pfizer dose tranche of vaccine the US has sent to Pakistan. This tranche is the fourth such delivery sent to Pakistan, bringing the total number of vaccine doses donated to the country to nearly 16m.

“I am proud to represent the people of the United States as we partner with the Pakistani people to defeat Covid-19,” said Consul General Stroh during a handover ceremony at the Sindh government’s ultra-cold chain facility in Karachi. “We’re making this donation to save Pakistani lives and to end this pandemic. Together, we will continue to build a world that is safer and more secure against the threat of infectious diseases.”

Since the start of the pandemic, the US has worked together with Pakistan to improve infection prevention and control, enhance patient care, expand laboratory testing, disease monitoring and case tracking in all districts and support front-line healthcare workers.

The US has provided more than $50.5m in Covid-19 assistance through partnership with the government of Pakistan, including a donation of 52 ventilators in Sindh to care for Covid-19 patients, personal protective equipment, and pulse oximeters.