ISLAMABAD: The first batch of CanSino Covid-19 vaccines that the government purchased from China arrived in Islamabad late on Tuesday night.
The producer, CanSino Biologics, told Xinhua the single-dose vaccine is expected to facilitate the building of immunity in the society to help the country restore the normal functioning of society and economy.
CanSino is one of the four vaccines approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), the other three being China’s Sinopharm, Russia’s Sputnik-V, and the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine.
The company had last month released the interim efficacy results of a multi-country trial, which included Pakistan, showing 65.7 per cent efficacy in preventing symptomatic coronavirus cases and a 90.98 per cent success rate in stopping severe infections.
Pakistan is experiencing a third, deadlier wave with a sharp rise in new Covid-19 infections and deaths. It recorded 78 deaths in the last 24 hours, and 4,757 new infections, with a transmission rate of 10.82 per cent — meaning for every 100 individuals tested, 10.82 per cent tested positive for coronavirus.
The country has recorded 14,434 deaths and 603,126 infections since the pandemic began. Around two-thirds of ventilators and 80 per cent of oxygenated beds are occupied in hospitals in major cities, according to official data.
VACCINE PROCUREMENT:
Last week, the government announced to have bought more than 1 million doses of Sinopharm and CanSino vaccines, the country’s first purchase from any manufacturer having previously relied on donations.
“We have purchased 1 million and 60,000 doses of Sinopharm and CanSino vaccines,” Asad said at the time. “We will be receiving the consignment before the end of March.”
“We want them to deliver that 7 million by the end of April, but they have not confirmed this yet. They might have some supply issues,” he added.
Authorities have so far relied on donations and on allocations from the World Health Organisation (WHO)-backed COVAX/GAVI initiative for developing nations.
The first COVAX/GAVI batch of up to 4 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had been due to be delivered in March but was delayed due to the issues the vaccine was facing worldwide, Asad said.
The government launched a vaccination campaign for the general public on March 10, starting with older people. The drive had begun with a focus on the oldest people in the community, generally over the age of 80, Minister of State for National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan said.
The government is aiming to vaccinate around 70 million people out of the 220 million population to reach sufficient community immunity. 100 million people under 18 years of age not yet required to be vaccinated, it says.
