LAHORE: The Punjab government has expressed hope to get 70,000 shots of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine whose first tranche arrived in Islamabad Monday, APP reported citing provincial Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid.
Punjab Health Minister @Dr_YasminRashid has said that Punjab has received the first batch of seventy thousand doses of #Coronavirus vaccine#APPNews #CovidVaccine pic.twitter.com/ZyTEHcoq4S
— APP 🇵🇰 (@appcsocialmedia) February 1, 2021
A special Pakistan Air Force (PAF) plane that left for Beijing on Sunday to bring back the first batch of half a million shots of the state-owned firm’s coronavirus jabs returned to Islamabad the following morning.
The report suggests the shots will be stored at a cold chain warehouse of Manga Mandi and the process of the administration of the jabs will start Wednesday.
Thanking Beijing for the provision of the jabs, the Punjab health minister said: “The first batch of Covid-19 vaccine has reached Islamabad and Punjab will get the vaccine this [Monday] evening or tomorrow [Tuesday] morning.”
Per the original plan, she said, the early doses will be offered to frontline healthcare workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
The health minister noted the shipment is an evidence of Pakistan-China friendship.
“The vaccine will be distributed among the registered health workers as per the NCOC distribution formula,” Dr Yasmin said.
She reiterated the government’s official position that other vaccines will arrive by February.
Punjab Primary & Secondary Healthcare Department Secretary Captain (r) Muhammad Usman said in the first phase, the department has set up 189 Adult Vaccination Centers (AVCs) equipped with digital records where about 0.4 million healthcare workers are registered.
“We will receive the second shipment of the vaccine in 21 days,” he said.
