Bilawal says Pakistan will lose gains made in coronavirus fight with delay in vaccine.

KARACHI -- PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday criticised the delay in the procurement of a vaccine by the government, saying that all the gains made during the fight against coronavirus in the earlier months of the outbreak will be lost at this rate.

"The only solution to come out of this difficult situation is the vaccine," he stressed.

"Where due to your sacrifices and lockdown Pakistan was ahead, it will now fall behind," the PPP chairman said.

He said Pakistan has made no arrangements for import of the vaccine, whereas India, Bangladesh and Western countries are moving very quickly to secure the vaccine.

"Sindh government was expecting to roll out the vaccine in January. We were told to be prepared by January so the vaccination can begin," Bilawal said.

He said the Sindh government had prepared and readied "all mechanisms", especially to ensure vaccination for frontline workers who are "most vulnerable and the most important" but the vaccine "never came".

"It seems we will have to wait for a long time."

Bilawal said this "unfair" approach by the government will lead to the private sector being given a preference. "The private sector will have full freedom. The private sector will be the first to arrange a vaccine and whoever has money will get vaccinated," he said.

He said instead what should have occurred was that the government should have first procured it for the frontline workers, "after which obviously the private sector can begin to as well".

Bilawal said that whether its Pakistan's economy or its health sector, "our government has failed and this is why the people are...