Pakistan to receive 0.5 million Covid-19 jabs from China on Feb 1: sources

ISLAMABAD: The first batch of coronavirus vaccine is expected to reach Pakistan from China on February 1 citing health department sources. 

As many as 500,000 shots of the COVID-19 vaccine will be transported to Islamabad from Beijing via Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft. Vaccine from China would reach phase-wise, sources said.

The vaccine would be preserved in the EPI’s cold storage from where it would be transported to the province for the vaccination.

It is to be mentioned here that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has recently said that China will provide 500,000 shots of its Sinovac coronavirus vaccine to Pakistan by January 31.

After the announcement of Pakistan’s foreign minister, a spokesperson of China’s foreign ministry said that the Chinese government will provide a batch of Covid-19 vaccine to Pakistan as aid and will “actively coordinate with the relevant Chinese enterprise to speed up export of vaccines to Pakistan”.

“Since the outbreak of Covid-19, China and Pakistan have been working together to overcome difficulties,” the spokesperson said in response to a question.