Daily Times

Pakistan on Tuesday launched coronavirus vaccine developed in the country. Speaking at the launch ceremony, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said the country will soon be able to start the production of the important drug. “Developing the vaccine from raw materials is not an easy task. [We are] proud of the people that developed the vaccine at the NIH,” he said.

Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) chief Asad Umar remarked that it was an ‘important day’ for Pakistan. He also spoke about the coronavirus situation of the country and said that the number of patients in hospitals was higher in the third wave compared to the first wave. He added that the number of patients on oxygen support was 60% more than it was during the first wave.

Asad Umar said that the first locally processed coronavirus vaccine in Pakistan was nothing short of a revolution, adding that while vaccines were in high demand all over the world, the Chinese-produced ones were ‘the most preferred’ in Pakistan.

The PakVac vaccine has been developed by China’s state-run pharmaceutical company Cansino and is being brought to Pakistan in a concentrated form, where it is packaged at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad. Cansino was the first Chinese vaccine to have undergone clinical trial in Pakistan and was administered to around 18,000 people.

The national tally of total active Covid-19 cases was recorded at 57,336 on Tuesday, as 1,771 more people tested positive for the deadly virus. Seventy-one patients died, 63 of whom were under treatment in hospitals and eight in their respective quarantines or homes, according to the latest update issued by the NCOC.