Islamabad: In a recent video message Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced that China has assured Pakistan the provision of 500,000 doses of a coronavirus vaccine by January 31.
After a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Qureshi declared that China has offered Islamabad to send an airplane and airlift the vaccines.
In a recent tweet, Qureshi annouced that Sinopharm vaccine doses will be provided; which has been approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) for emergency use in the country.
Always great to speak to my friend, His Excellency FM Wang Yi. With encouraging results of Chinese vaccine and our historic relationship, Pakistan has approved emergency use authorisation of SinoPharm. Indeed 🇵🇰 greatly appreciates the 500,000 doses of the vaccine gifted by 🇨🇳.
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) January 21, 2021
In addition, he retweeted by adding that
China has played an instrumental role in Pakistan’s fight against #COVID19 with technical assistance and medical expertise.
🇵🇰 🇨🇳 #IronBrothers https://t.co/UsKaxJitBE— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) January 21, 2021
COVID-19 Vaccine Approved in Pakistan
The problem arised with the report of 1,920 new coronavirus cases and 46 deaths within a single day. On Monday, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) approved the Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Chinese state-owned firm Sinopharm.
The Beijing Institute of Biological Products, a subsidiary of state-owned conglomerate Sinopharm is responsible of developing the vaccine. Last month, the company announced that the preliminary data from last-stage trials have shown 79.3 percent effective results from the vaccine.
However, Qureshi also declared that he has informed his Chinese counterpart that Pakistan’s requirement for vaccines is “more than this”, and that it will need 1.1 million doses in the near future.
Later on, he revealed in the video message saying that the Chinese foreign minister said that we plan to fulfil this requirement of yours as well by providing 1.1m doses to you by the end of February.
Pakistan’s vaccine plans
Pakistan has so far approved two vaccines for emergency use, the other being the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab.
On Wednesday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had expressed confidence in the government’s ability to procure at least 1m doses of Covid vaccines by March, saying it ultimately aimed to inoculate 70 percent of the country’s population against the virus.
In addition to bilateral arrangements, the SAPM said, the country will also receive vaccines through Covax, an international alliance that has pledged free vaccines for 20 percent population of around 190 countries, including Pakistan.
Preparation for vaccination campaign
The SAPM said in order to achieve the target of vaccinating 70 percent of the population; it was important to prepare the supply chain system in addition to procuring shots.
“Our Expanded Programme of Immunisation has the training and methods to do it. Our national campaign will run through EPI and they will store the vaccines. They have reviewed and strengthened their cold chain and they can further expand it as well. We are capable of vaccinating our entire population.”
Dr Sultan declared that the vaccine would only be provided to the adult population of the country; therefore, it is of utmost importance to upgrade the information system. He informed that in Phase 1, front line health workers and people aged 65 and above will be vaccinated. He furthermore added, that a software has been developed for the vaccination drive.
“There is a resource management system to register our healthcare workers and more than 400,000 healthcare workers have registered [themselves].”
The vaccines provided by the government will be free of cost, Dr Sultan said.
Responding to a question, the SAPM said there was “no restriction” on any company trying to import the vaccine.
“We have expedited the registration process to make it easy. Two vaccines are approved by DRAP. Any party that wants to procure the vaccine privately can go ahead and do it,” he added.