Pakistan held fruitful talks with China in order to obtain COVID vaccine: FM

Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi has on Thursday announced a good news that Pakistan will likely to receive the first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine from China by January 31, 2021.

Talking to media in Islamabad, FM Qureshi told Chinese Foreign Minister, in a telephonic conversation, said that Pakistan can air lift the medicine.

The foreign minister said that he told his Chinese counterpart that Pakistan requires 1.1 million doses of the vaccine in view of its large population.

He further informed that the Chinese side also promised to make available the required quantity of the medicine by the end of next month.

FM Qureshi also said that China has also agreed to manufacture the COVID vaccine in Pakistan.

He said that first cache of the vaccine is a grant from China to be provided to Pakistan free of cost as a goodwill gesture.

Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed to expedite supple of COVID vaccines across the country.

The Prime Minister directed the Cabinet Committee to expedite the steps taken for procurement and supply of approved vaccines.

Earlier, Pakistan has approved authorized China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, making it the second vaccine to get local approval.

According to sources, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has approved the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use across the country.

The decision was taken in meetings held between January 14 and 18 after reviewing vaccine results data submitted by the National Institute of Health (NIH).

The development allows federal and provincial governments, and the private sector to import the Chinese vaccine.

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