One million more doses of Covid-19 vaccine flown in from China

PIA country manager says an additional two million doses expected on April 29

BEIJING:

Three planes of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) carrying a consignment of one million doses of Covid-19 vaccine left China for Pakistan on Sunday amidst a sharp rise in new coronavirus cases in the country.

According to PIA Country Manager for China Qadir Bux Sangi, an additional two million doses of Covid-19 vaccine will also be transported from China by the national flag carrier on April 29.

He said two special planes and a PIA regular flight was used to airlift the coronavirus vaccine doses from China.

The shipment flies in as Pakistan's tally for confirmed cases reaches 795,627 and the death toll stands at 17,117.

Read Pakistan records highest single-day Covid-19 death toll since start of pandemic

Previously, a total of 2.56 million vaccine doses had arrived in Pakistan from China and 1.5 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine were donated to the country.

The vaccination of people in the age group 50 to 59 also began on April 21. The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) started registering citizens above 50 years of age for Covid-19 vaccination from March 30.

Pakistan began its vaccination more than a month ago with over a million doses of Sinopharm vaccines donated by China after Islamabad received its first Covid-19 vaccine consignment after a military aircraft airlifted it from Beijing in February 1, this year.

According to a senior Chinese official, the vaccine cooperation between Pakistan and China reflects the mutual assistance understanding between the two as all-weather strategic cooperative partners.