Pakistan received a donation of 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China on Wednesday for its ongoing COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the health ministry said.
NCOC also announced the vaccination process for the peoples age of 60 years can get the jab of Covid-19 vaccine by registering themselves or any body over the 70 year can visit the vaccination Centre and get vaccinated.
Pakistan launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign to the public earlier this month, starting with the elderly, as it faces significant delay in vaccination among its 220 million people, including health professionals.
The next batch of Sinopharm vaccine was received today. These 500,000 doses will ensure smooth continuation of our vaccination drive, currently underway for senior citizens. We're grateful to China for their support. This gesture is a testament to our long-standing friendship pic.twitter.com/fbS3kfmFQc
— Faisal Sultan (@fslsltn) March 17, 2021
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Sajid Hussain Shah, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, told that he received a donation of 0.5 million doses of Sinopharm from China today.
"I am at Rawalpindi Air Force Base on 0.5 million doses of the vaccine," Rana Muhammad Safdar, director general of health in the Department of National Health Services and Regulations.
He added that the government had mandated two manufacturers to purchase more vaccines in the coming weeks and declined to provide further information on orders, manufacturers and vaccine quantities: "All options are open to further purchase."
The Sinopharm vaccine, a product of the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, is believed to be 79 percent effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
"The highest daily vaccination rate of more than 41,000 vaccinations was reached yesterday [Tuesday]," said Asad Umar, Minister of Planning and Development, who also heads the government's NCOC response center against the coronavirus pandemic, in a Twitter message on Wednesday.
Highest daily vaccination rate of over 41 thousand vaccinations achieved yesterday. Of these 28, 424 vaccinations were carried out of senior citizens. Please encourage everyone who is 70 plus to register to get vaccinated.
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) March 17, 2021
The minister said that of the 41,000 vaccinations, 28,424 have been given to seniors across Pakistan. He also urged the public to encourage people over 70 to sign up for the vaccination program.
Aside from the Sinopharm vaccine, the South Asian country is expected to receive approximately 14 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming days through Covax, an international initiative to ensure equal access to the vaccine for developing countries.
Pakistan hopes to receive a total of 45 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses by June this year under the Covax initiative.
