Pakistan successfully produces single-dose Covid vaccine

ISLAMABAD – In a breakthrough in domestic production of the Covid-19 vaccine, Pakistan has successfully produced a Chinese single-dose CanSino vaccine in a bid to advance the national immunization drive, the local news channel reported Sunday.

Reports suggest that at least 124,000 jabs of the Covid vaccine have been locally manufactured in the first phase.

The newly manufactured batch of Covid vaccine will be made available by the next week after approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP). Meanwhile, the Quality Control Unit of the National Institute of Health is conducting a trial test of the new single-dose vaccine.

The Chinese team, according to sources, assisted them during the manufacturing process with the raw material provided by the Chinese firm CanSino while the second batch of the vaccine will be prepared solely by the Pakistani experts.

Earlier, NIH officials while speaking with press reporters said that the vaccine will be manufacture at the local level with the collaboration of a Chinese company. The company’s scientist will also be present in the federal capital to help in the preparation of the vaccine. The experts also trained NIH experts to prepare vaccine doses.

According to official data, at least 1,193,441 people have been vaccinated across the country so far.