Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan receives Covid-19 vaccination

Mr Khan appealed to all residents to follow safety measures as Pakistan faces a third wave of infections

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during an interview in Islamabad on March 16, 2020. AP Photo

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan received the Covid-19 vaccination on Thursday and appealed to all residents to follow safety measures as the country faces a third wave of infections.

A video from the prime minister’s office showed Mr Khan, 68, receiving the jab.

Pakistan is seeing a sharp increase in Covid cases. It has recorded 615,810 coronavirus infections and 13,717 deaths, with 3,495 cases and 61 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

China's Sinopharm and CansinoBio, Russia's Sputnik V and the UK's AstraZeneca vaccines have all been approved for emergency use in Pakistan, which has not secured any vaccines from producers and is relying so far on donations.

The country is using more than one million doses of Sinopharm donated by longtime ally China to vaccinate frontline health workers and the older population.

On Thursday, Pakistan reversed its decision not to cap prices for Covid vaccines imported by private firms, the health minister said.

The move coincided with the arrival of a first shipment of privately imported Russian Sputnik V shots.

Pakistan, with a population of 220 million is largely reliant on the Covax vaccine sharing initiative for poorer nations.

Last month, it 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."

An official with the company that imported the Sputnik shots said a first shipment of 50,000 doses arrived on Wednesday night and that they would be available to the public as soon as the government agreed on a price.

Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), responsible for marketing the Sputnik V vaccine abroad, confirmed to Reuters that a batch had been delivered to Pakistan.

The decision to allow commercial imports of vaccines with an exemption on upper price caps had sparked criticism that it would be unfair.