Tunisia-Hachemi Louzir:Tunisia will only buy Pfizer’s vaccine once it is proven effective

The scientific committee for the fight against the coronavirus has interlocked in scientific exchanges with 11 international laboratories, including the American laboratory Pfizer, which have all completed the third phase of clinical research on vaccines against COVID-19, indicated Hachemi Louzir, member of the commission.

During a hearing session organized by the Tunisians Abroad Commission, Louzir stated the scientific commission had begun discussions with researchers from international pharmaceutical laboratories whose inquiry had reached the closing stages of clinical trials to provide vaccines against Covid 19, indicating that the Ministry of Health has joined international efforts to administer the vaccine to Tunisia if it is determined effective.

He evoked that Tunisia had entered the “COVAX” initiative launched by the World Health Organization in cooperation with the World Bank in order to fund low-income nations to obtain the vaccine against the Coronavirus, stipulating that Tunisia had chosen to secure the vaccine as soon as its definitive efficacy was proven, while other nations in the world had taken the initiative to begin its procurement. He explained that between 20 and 40 percent of Tunisian citizens are impacted by the use of the expected vaccine which will be allocated according to priorities. People with the most chronic diseases, the elderly, as well as those in vital employment in state structures will benefit first, he said.

In another context, the Director-General of the Pasteur Institute recalled that the “COVAX” initiative lately launched by the World Health Organization finances all the expenditure for the acquisition of the vaccine, including its delivery to Tunisia. He recalled that the scientific committee has been created since the emergence of the Coronavirus pandemic with a  specialized team of researchers responsible for examining the most important developments related to vaccine projects against the virus.