Pakistan set to get 1.6m more COVID jabs

According to sources, 900,000 raw doses of Chinese vaccine along with 700,000 fully prepared jabs of the injection to arrive in the country tomorrow.

The raw vaccine will be manufactured and packaged at the National Institute of Health (NIH) under the name PakVac.

As per sources, in May, Pakistan has been developed and packaged more than 120,000 COVID shots under the brand PakVac.

On May 24, Pakistan successfully formulated its first-ever COVID-19 vaccine with the help of China's CanSino Biologics Inc.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan on Monday took to Twitter and announced while saying: "Congratulations to the NIH Pak team and its leadership for successful fill/finish (from concentrate) of the Cansino vaccine with the help of Cansino Bio Inc. China. The product has passed rigorous internal QA testing. An imp step to help in our vaccine supply line," wrote Dr Sultan.

Dr Sultan congratulated the National Institute of Health (NIH) for successfully producing the vaccine, adding that the move will step up the country's vaccine supply.

Earlier on May 28, over 100,000 doses of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine reached Pakistan under COVAX facility—an initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, UNICEF Pakistan reported.

The vaccine doses reached Islamabad on Friday morning.

Today's consignment marks the second shipment to have arrived through the COVAX facility.

The first batch under the initiative which arrived on May 8, contained 1,248,400 doses of the AstraZeneca shot.

Earlier, National Command and Operation Center claimed that goal of the Covax facility is to supply Pakistan with enough doses to vaccinate 20 per cent of the population depending on availability.

The COVAX program has committed 45 million doses to the country up to the end of 2021, and deliveries have already been started in March.

COVAX— a platform to ensure coronavirus shots reach those in greatest need—is led by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and has promised to deliver two billion doses of safe and effective vaccines to at least 172 countries by the end of 2021.

Pakistan is presently experiencing the third wave of coronavirus which is said to be deadlier and more contagious than the previous two waves.

According to National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), around 2,482 cases of coronavirus were reported while 67 people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 20,607.

The total number of confirmed cases reached 913,784.

After enabling walk-in vaccination for people over 40, the same facility has been extended to people over30, starting tomorrow, said Minister for Planning and Development, Asad Umar.

Taking to Twitter, the federal minister who also heads National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) said that the government has decided to allow walk-vaccination of 30 above from tomorrow.

“So if you are 30 or older and registered please go to any vaccination centre and get vaccinated,” he added.

In the NCOC meeting today it was decided to open up walk in vaccination for 30 plus from tomorrow . So if you are 30 or older and registered please go to any vaccination centre and get vaccinated

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) May 28, 2021

In another tweet, Asad Umar wrote that so far 5 million people have been vaccinated against coronavirus.

“Kindly vaccinate yourself so government can reduce restrictions,” he added.

الحمد للہ کل تک ویکسین 50 لاکھ سے زیادہ لوگوں کو لگائ جا چکی ہے. آپ بھی جلد رجسٹر کریں اور ویکسین لگوائیں تاکہ ہم بندشیں مزید کم کر سکیں اور پاکستان کی ترقی کا سفر تیز تر ہو. اور آپ اپنی زندگی آزادی کے ساتھ کرونا کے خوف کے بغیر گزار سکیں

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) May 28, 2021