Pakistan airlifts China-made COVID vaccine tomorrow

ISLAMABAD – A special plane of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) will fly to China tomorrow (January 31) to bring the first shipment of Covid-19 vaccine.

It was revealed during a meeting of the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the top monitoring body of the country.

The forum deliberated at length about vaccine administration strategy across Pakistan, administrative measures and particularly movement of initial tranche of vaccine.

The meeting was informed that all necessary arrangements for the storage of the vaccine at Islamabad and its transportation to various federating units, particularly to Sindh and Balochistan through air, have been made.

Vaccine nerve centre has been established at NCOC in coordination with provincial and district level vaccine administration and adult vaccination centres.

Last week, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said China had promised iron brother Pakistan to provide 0.5 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine without any charges by the end of this month.

Addressing a presser after a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Qureshi announced that China offered Pakistan to airlift the vaccines.

The Foreign Minister added that on the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan, he held a telephonic conversation with Beijing and updated them with current requirements.

"I want to give the nation the good news that Beijing has promised to immediately provide 500,000 doses of vaccine to Pakistan by January 31," he added. 

Working for the global public good, China had decided to assist Pakistan on a priority basis, keeping in view the strong bilateral relations, between the two countries.

Pakistan has been offered to airlift the vaccine as it would help in saving people's lives. Adding that, he informed Mr. Wang Yi that Pakistan's requirement is more than this, and it will need more than one million doses in the near future.

Qureshi referred that he was assured to get the desired numbers (1.1 million) by the end of February. He said that first cache of the vaccine is a grant from China to be provided to Pakistan free of cost as a goodwill gesture.

The foreign minister also said that China has also agreed to manufacture the Covid vaccine in Pakistan. 

Later, Qureshi, 64, tweeted the development. He wrote “Always great to speak to my friend, His Excellency FM Wang Yi. With encouraging results of Chinese vaccine and our historic relationship, Pakistan has approved emergency use authorisation of SinoPharm. Indeed Pakistan greatly appreciates the 500,000 doses of the vaccine gifted by China.”

Always great to speak to my friend, His Excellency FM Wang Yi. With encouraging results of Chinese vaccine and our historic relationship, Pakistan has approved emergency use authorisation of SinoPharm. Indeed 🇵🇰 greatly appreciates the 500,000 doses of the vaccine gifted by 🇨🇳.

— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) January 21, 2021