Special plane to bring the first batch of Chinese vaccine to Pakistan

Pakistan would soon send a special plane to China in the next few days to transport the first tranche of the coronavirus vaccine to Pakistan.

“The first consignment will have around 500,000 doses of vaccine and administration of vaccine will be started at the earliest,” said Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan.

The first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to reach Pakistan on Jamuary 30 via a special Pakistan International Airlines flight.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had last week said China had promised to provide 500,000 vaccine doses to Pakistan by the end of January.

Pakistan has so fare approved these three vaccines:

1. Chinese Sinopharm
2. Russian Sputnik
3. Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

COVID-19 vaccination in Pakistan

Pakistan’s health officials, on January 27, announced that the vaccine would be available in Pakistan hopefully in the coming week and all arrangements were in place.

Pakistan’s health chief Dr. Faisal Sultan also held a special session on Pakistan’s vaccine strategy held at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) and reviewed deployment of the vaccine.

The session focused on efficient vaccine delivery to various federating units and infrastructure arrangements for the administration of vaccines from federal to provincial to the district level.

“We are fully prepared for this undertaking and also united in this mission. Our coordinated efforts have brought us a long way,” Dr. Sultan said.