Pakistan receives first batch of Chinese coronavirus vaccine

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has received the first batch of Chinese coronavirus vaccine, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan announced on Monday.

The first tranche of the Sinopharm vaccine landed in the federal capital earlier today. Dr Faisal Sultan, while taking to Twitter, 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.

“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.

Alhamdulilah the first batch of Sinopharm vaccine has arrived! Grateful to China and everyone who made this happen. NCOC & provinces played an instrumental role in tackling COVID. I salute our frontline healthcare workers for their efforts & they'll be first to get vaccinated

— Faisal Sultan (@fslsltn) February 1, 2021

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

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.

Later, the 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 the export of vaccines to Pakistan.