Observer Report
Islamabad
China has agreed to supply coronavirus vaccines to Pakistan to conduct tests. If the results prove effective, Pakistan will ensure its most vulnerable segment of the population — elderly, health-care workers and people with medical conditions associated with serious cases of Covid-19 — are vaccinated, as per a report in The Wall Street Journal.
According to the publication, officials said that the supplies, once proven effective and safe, will be used to vaccinate close to one-fifth of the country’s population according to the agreement.
The WSJ said that it is one of the first agreements China has reached with any country to test its coronavirus vaccine in populations outside its borders. Officials also said that Pakistan was also negotiating with a second Chinese company to conduct trials of its vaccine in the country.
“China hasn’t been a major vaccine producer globally. It needs to test its Covid-19 vaccines outside its borders because coronavirus cases in China have dwindled and it is harder to find the population diversity required,” read the report. The publication reported that the state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group, commonly known as Sinopharm, has teamed up with Karachi University’s International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences to hold the trials in Pakistan.
