Pakistan receives first batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine

• China had promised to provide 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Pakistan by January 31.
• Pakistan will start vaccination drive from this week.
• A vaccine nerve centre has been established at the NCOC with provincial and district Level vaccine administration.

BEIJING: The first batch of Chinese coronavirus vaccine has reached Pakistan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan announced on Monday.

A special Pakistan Air Force (PAF) plane with the first tranche of Sinopharm vaccine landed in Islamabad earlier today.

Taking to Twitter, SAPM Dr Faisal Sultan thanked China and everyone who made this happen and said the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) and provinces played an instrumental role in tackling COVID.

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“I salute our frontline healthcare workers for their efforts & they'll be first to get vaccinated,” he tweeted.

As per details from the NCOC, all necessary measures have been put in place for vaccine storage in Islamabad and the move of vaccines to various federating units particularly to Sindh and Balochistan through the air.

A vaccine nerve centre has been established at the NCOC with provincial and district Level vaccine administration.

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China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi during a phone call with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi last week had promised to provide 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Pakistan by January 31.

Beijing had asked Islamabad to send an airplane to get the vaccines.

Later, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Hua Chunying had also confirmed that in order to support the brothers and sisters in Pakistan, the Chinese government would provide a batch of vaccines as aid and would actively coordinate with the relevant Chinese enterprise to speed up export of vaccines to Pakistan.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China and Pakistan have been working together to overcome difficulties.

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Pakistan has approved three foreign anti-COVID vaccines as of now, including the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, for emergency use in the country.

Pakistan plans to provide vaccines to frontline health workers and elderly people in the first phase.