ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Nausheen Hamid on Friday informed the National Assembly that Pakistan had started local production of anti-corona vaccine.
Responding to various questions during the question hour, she said that the first batch of CanSino vaccine was currently being manufactured at the National Institute of Health (NIH), which would be available for administration to the people by the end of current month. Out of total stock of vaccine doses imported, 91 percent were purchased by the government while the remaining nine percent were gifted by China, she said.
In an earlier tweet, National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) head Asad Umar already said that the first batch of the CanSino vaccine being processed locally at the National Institute of Health (NIH) would be available for the use by the end of May. “The first batch of bulk CanSino vaccine being processed at the NIH plant set up for this purpose last month. Specially trained team working on it. Will be available for use by end of May after going thru rigorous quality control checks.”
“We have signed agreements for 30 million vaccine doses with different companies,” Dr Nausheen Hamid had said, commenting on the country’s vaccination programme. By June, “we’ll receive 19.8 million doses,” she said. The government’s plan is to inoculate 70 million people–around 70% of the vaccine-eligible adult population–by the end of 2021. “We have a whole plan in place according to population and vaccination centres,” she said, adding that backup vaccines were available in case of shortages.