Pakistan will receive several million doses of the vaccine which needs to be administered only once
According to the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan CanSino Biologics Covid-19 vaccine has shown 74.8% efficacy in preventing symptomatic cases and a 100% success rate in stopping severe disease among Pakistanis in an interim analysis. In the global trials, the results were approximately 66% and 91% respectively. Overall, there were 30,000 participants in the trials carried out in Pakistan for the single-dose vaccine. No serious side effects were seen during the trials.
The CanSino vaccine is being tested in a number of countries including Pakistan, Mexico, Russia, Argentina, and Chile, as per clinical trial registration data. The company has supply deals in place with Mexico and some other countries. Pakistan will also be getting several million doses from the company, based on the results of the data. The actual number may be as high as tens of millions doses eventually.
Hassan Abbas, head of the CanSinoBIO trial at AJ Pharma in Pakistan, said that the company has applied for the government’s permission to import the vaccine. Initially, filled vials will come but later the concentrates will be imported for manufacturing. “The initial set of vaccines will come in vials already filled, but we hope in the future to get them in the form of concentrates from CanSino and do the filling here in Pakistan,” he told Reuters.
Pakistan is already importing SinoPharm vaccine from China. The current vaccines are being used for the frontline healthcare workers and the at-risk elderly.
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