ISLAMABAD: A special Pakistan Air Force (PAF) plane that left for Beijing a day earlier to bring back the first batch of half a million shots of the state-owned Sinopharm’s coronavirus vaccine returned to Islamabad early Monday morning.
“Grateful to China and everyone who made this happen,” Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan said in a tweet while confirming the development.
Alhamdulilah the first batch of Sinopharm vaccine has arrived! Grateful to China and everyone who made this happen. NCOC & provinces played an instrumental role in tackling COVID. I salute our frontline healthcare workers for their efforts & they’ll be first to get vaccinated
— Faisal Sultan (@fslsltn) February 1, 2021
“NCOC & provinces played an instrumental role in tackling COVID. I salute our frontline healthcare workers for their efforts & they’ll be first to get vaccinated.”
The development follows a January 21 telephone conversation between Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, wherein the latter announced Beijing’s initiative to “gift” 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to Pakistan “free of cost.”
Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong received the shipment and handed it over to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at Noor Khan Airbase. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan was also present on the occasion.
Foreign Minister Qureshi told Pakistan Today at the airport that he was delighted to receive the shipment. He said that China has once again demonstrated its ‘eternal friendship’ with Pakistan.
“This occasion is more significant because both the countries will be completing seven decades of their diplomatic relations this year. We will fully celebrate this landmark occasion and add new chapters of friendship,” Qureshi said.
The foreign minister thanked the Chinese government, especially President Xi Jinping, on behalf of the government, Prime Minister Imran Khan and people of Pakistan for initially announcing that the vaccine would be used for public good and to save peoples’ lives and now practically proving his words by action.
“China has started (delivery of vaccine) from Pakistan. This is the proof of ever-lasting friendship between Pakistan and China,” Qureshi said, adding, “I want to thank Chinese president from the core of my heart. Qureshi said that he also wanted to thank his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, with whom he held talks regarding the vaccine.
Qureshi said that he had discussed the matter with Wang Yi subsequently in December 2020 and January this year. He added that Wang Yi had shared the good news last week with him, telling him that China would gift 500,000 doses of vaccine to Pakistan.
He lauded Chinese ambassador’s efforts as well, saying selecting Pakistan as the first country to receive the vaccine is a proof of ever-lasting friendship between the two countries.
Qureshi said that China stood by Pakistan and extended supported since the country started its fighting against Covid-19. He also thanked the Chinese medical teams, who provided medical training to Pakistani doctors. He appreciated Pakistani pilots who did not take rest for a single minute in Beijing and immediately brought back the vaccine.
“Pak-China friendship is not just between the two governments; the friendship is people-centric and this is the beauty of it,” Qureshi concluded.
Ambassador Rong said that everyone agrees that it is not only the vaccine to help the needy people in Pakistan but more importantly a new manifestation of the iron brotherhood between China and Pakistan.
He said that as the vaccine donated by the Chinese government arrived in Pakistan, he felt pride to announce that Pakistan is the first country in the world to receive the Chinese government donated vaccine.
He also said that President Xi Jinping has repeatedly said that the Chinese Covid-19 vaccines, once developed and put into use, will be for global public goods.
“China has honored its commitment,” Ambassador Rong said, adding, “keeping the huge global need for vaccine in mind, China has lived to its best to offer assistance and support. Pakistan, as our closest friend, is the priority of our cooperation.”
The envoy appreciated the Pakistan government for its facilitation and cooperation in the approval of the Emergency Use Authorisation for SinoPharm’s vaccine and the phase-III trial with the CanSino company of China.
The Chinese ambassador said that he expects more cooperation to follow and more Paistani people to benefit from the vaccine.
“This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan. We are proud of this friendship that is higher than the mountains, deeper than the seas and sweeter than the honey,” said the envoy.
Ambassador Rong said that joint fight against Covid-19 with the great solidarity and support has brought “our hearts grow closer” for each other, expressing that the steady progress in bilateral cooperation, including the CPEC, will enhanced in future.
“China is ready to contribute to Pakistan’s pandemic prevention drive, economic recovery and social development,” he said, adding that China is committed to the building of China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future. Following the speech, he handed over the vaccines to FM Qureshi.
The government had approved the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use on January 18, two days after AstraZeneca’s vaccine co-developed with the University of Oxford received a similar authorisation from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).
“I thanked them and also told them we need more than this, and in the future, we will need 1.1 million doses, and they reassured us and said by the end of February we plan to meet this requirement for you as well,” Qureshi had said.
STEPS IN PLACE TO STORE SHOTS:
In an earlier statement, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said that necessary steps had been taken to store the doses in Islamabad.
“All necessary measures have been put in place for vaccine storage at Islamabad and [transportation] of vaccine to various federating units particularly to Sindh and Balochistan through [the] air,” the statement issued Sunday said.
An official of the Ministry of National Health Services, requesting not to be named, had told a private publication that arrangements were in place to maintain the cold chain management of the vaccine, right from storing it in a warehouse to its administration to healthcare workers.
“There is a warehouse of the Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI) which will be used to store the vaccine,” he said.
“Besides, we have developed the National Immunisation Management System (NIMS) through which we will monitor from Islamabad the doses utilised in each province and district and how many more were required. We will ensure that the new stocks are available before the existing ones run out.”
The health authorities have already decided on a “comprehensive strategy” for the administration of the shots and other administrative measures.
COVAX SHOTS BY JUNE:
Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, confirmed on Saturday that COVAX, a global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to coronavirus vaccines for all countries, has indicated a supply of up to 17 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Pakistan by the end of June.
“Good news on Covid-19 vaccine front. Received a letter from COVAX of indicative supply of up to 17 million doses of AstraZeneca in 1st half 2021,” he tweeted.
Good news on covid vaccine front. Recieved letter from Covax of indicative supply of up to 17 million doses of AstraZeneca in 1st half 2021. About 6 million will be recieved by March with delivery starting in Feb. We signed with Covax nearly 8 months back to ensure availability
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) January 30, 2021
According to him, six million of the total 17 million doses will be received by March with delivery starting in February. He, however, did not specify any dates.
“We signed with COVAX nearly eight months back to ensure availability,” he added.
HOW TO GET VACCINATED:
A step-by-step guide of NCOC’s plan to get the coronavirus vaccine is given below:
In the first step, at-risk citizens, including frontline healthcare workers, will send their Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) numbers to 1166 through SMS or use National Immunisation Management System (NIMS) website for registration.
After necessary verification, designated AVC (Adult Vaccine Centre) (based on “Present Address” and PIN Code will be sent to the citizen through SMS).
If the designated AVC is outside the current tehsil of the citizen, he/she can change the designated health facility by visiting NIMS web portal or by calling the 1166 helpline within 5 days of receipt of the first SMS.
Upon availability of vaccine at the designated vaccination centre, SMS will be sent to the citizen to obtain an appointment date for vaccine administration.
After successful registration, the citizen will visit AVC on the date of appointment along with the original CNIC and received PIB Code. The vaccination staff will verify the CNIC and PIN code.
After successful verification, the citizen will be vaccinated. Upon vaccine administration, vaccination staff will enter the details in NIMS and a confirmation message will be sent to the citizen through SMS. The citizen will stay in AVC for 30 minutes for the post-inoculation monitoring.
In the last step, a real-time dashboard for the federal, provincial and district health departments will be generated automatically.
In this regard, Dr Faisal has said that so far 400,000 health workers have been registered for vaccination.
It is not right to rely on the vaccine provided by China too much. In Brazil, the Chinese vaccine proved to be unsuccessful, so China needs a market to absorb its vaccine. Thats why China is sending this vaccine to Pakistan, therefore. It seems China needs its vaccine to be tested against Pakistanis. But an inadequate vaccine can have a very bad impact on Pakistan’s population. And China has still not given data on its vaccine. Therefore, instead of focusing on China’s vaccine, Pakistan should look at more choices.