Staff Reporter Islamabad
A special plane of Pakistan International Airlines carrying 1.55 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine reached Islamabad from China on Sunday as the country grappled with a shortage of the anti-Covid-19 jabs.
The National Command and Control Centre said in a statement that the batch was part of the “planned contracted quantity purchased from China”.
Measures had been taken to transport the doses to all federating units as per their requirement, the NCOC said, adding that another tranche of two to three million Chinese vaccine doses is expected next week, which would be followed by continuous supply.
“China, as a time-tested friend of Pakistan, has taken special measures to ensure the uninterrupted supply of vaccine to Pakistan,” the NCOC said.
Measures had been taken to transport the doses to all federating units as per their requirement, the NCOC said, adding that another tranche of two to three million Chinese vaccine doses is expected next week, which would be followed by continuous supply.
“China, as a time-tested friend of Pakistan, has taken special measures to ensure the uninterrupted supply of vaccine to Pakistan,” the NCOC said.
The vaccine doses arrive at a crucial time for the country as shortages are reported across Pakistan with major vaccination centres in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi either suspending vaccination or slowing down the process.
As a result, the number of vaccinations, which was around 400,000 a day at the start of the current month, has been reduced by around 40 percent.
Meanwhile, the government authorities have decided for large scale production of the locally made coronavirus vaccine PakVac.
The decision has been taken to initiate preparations for mass scale production of the single-dose PakVac from the next month.
The National Institute of Health Islamabad will prepare monthly three million doses of PakVac and the government have been informed about the decision.
The decision to produce vaccine in large scale, has been taken in view of the increased demand of the vaccine.
“Monthly production of three million vaccine doses will ensure sufficient availability of the corona vaccine jabs, which would significantly reduce the country’s dependence on other countries. The raw material of the vaccine will be provided by China’s Cansino Biologics.”
