Pakistan receives second batch of COVID vaccine shipment from China

Islamabad: Pakistan on Wednesday received half a million doses of coronavirus vaccines donated by China.

The second consignment of the Sinopharm vaccine was received by Pakistan health officials at the Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health, Dr Faisal Sultan, was present to receive the batch of the vaccines.

"China has always supported Pakistan during difficult times," Sultan said, extending his gratitude to the Chinese government.

The vaccines will be shifted to the warehouse of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) and administered to the frontline health workers and people above the age of 60 years across the country.

Earlier, China donated 500,000 doses of Sinopharm on February 1, enabling Pakistan to launch vaccination drive a day later.

The new consignment arrived amidst Pakistan struggling to combat the third wave of the pandemic, which threatened the earlier gains against the coronavirus when the country succeeded to contain the first two outbreaks.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's nationwide coronavirus tally reached 612,315 after 2,351 new cases were detected in the last 24 hours. Sixty-one more people died overnight, taking the COVID-19 toll to 13,656, according to the health ministry.