Pakistan gets more 2m COVID jabs from China

On June 29, three million more doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine reached Pakistan.

On June 22, a special flight of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) PK-6852 airlifted two million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine from the Beijing Capital International Airport to Islamabad.

As per sources, Pakistan purchased the doses from China to speed up the vaccination process as the country got 4 million doses of vaccine in the last 3 days. 

More doses of Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines would be flown in from China next month, sources revealed.

Sources had said around three million more doses of COVID-19 will be transported to Pakistan in the next 10 days.

Sinovac vaccine

Sinovac, called CoronaVac in some regions, is developed by a Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech Ltd. The vaccine is approved for use in 32 countries and shots are being administered in China, Turkey, Indonesia and Brazil. Sinovac and Sinopharm are the two Chinese vaccines that have received the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) emergency approval.

Sinovac facts

· It is recommended for people above 18 years of age

· It can be stored in a standard refrigerator at 2-8 degrees Celsius

· The vaccine requires two doses, given 28 days apart

· Efficacy rates varied between 50 and 90 per cent in different studies.