Special plane to bring first batch of COVID-19 vaccine from China to Pakistan tomorrow

COVID-19 vaccine doses from China are expected to arrive in Pakistan tomorrow. The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) was informed today that a special plane will leave for China tomorrow to bring the first batch of the coronavirus vaccine.

As reported by Dawn, a statement after NCOC’s daily meeting said that all necessary measures have been put in place for vaccine storage in Islamabad.

The measures to transport the vaccine to various federating units particularly to Sindh and Balochistan through air have also been put into place.

A central control cell has reportedly been established at the NCOC while cells have also been set up at provincial and district levels for the vaccination drive.

Furthermore, the forum “deliberated in length about vaccine administration strategy across Pakistan, administrative measures and particularly the movement of the initial tranche of the vaccine”.

This will be the first batch of the 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine that China had promised to provide.

Earlier this month, the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying had announced that China was working with related companies to “speed up” the process of supplying COVID-19 vaccine doses to Pakistan.

“Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China and Pakistan have been working together to overcome difficulties. In order to support our brothers and sisters in Pakistan, the Chinese government has decided to provide a batch of vaccines as aid and will actively coordinate with the relevant Chinese enterprise to speed up export of vaccines to Pakistan,” Chunying had said.

Before this announcement, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had also mentioned that 500,000 doses of the vaccine would be supplied to Pakistan by China by the end of January.

“I want to give the nation the good news that China has promised to immediately provide 500,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine to Pakistan by January 31,” he had said.