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By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Half a million coronavirus vaccines donated by China have arrived in Pakistan carried by a special plane, according to a spokesperson for the health ministry.
The plane touched down at 12pm at Nur Khan Airbase on Wednesday where the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan formally received the 0.5 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine.
The jabs were to arrive in the country on Tuesday but got delayed due to some reasons. The Chinese vaccine was shifted to the Expanded Programme on Immunisation’s (EPI) warehouse from where it will be moved to vaccination centres across the country. Some rumors circulated on media said Pakistan purchased the 0.5 million doses from the Chinese firm at a discounted rate. The firm will provide more jabs in phases. The National Institute of Health already has an approval for emergency use of the Chinese vaccine.
According to Chinese state broadcaster CGTN, this is the second batch donated following an earlier lot that arrived on February 1. Earlier in the day, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar tweeted that Pakistan recorded “the highest daily vaccination rate” on Tuesday. He said more than 41,000 people were inoculated against the novel coronavirus the other day.
