Pakistan to launch the Chinese made coronavirus vaccine

The state-run National Institute of Health (NIH) of Pakistan has now been successful in producing the first batch of China-based single dose coronavirus vaccine, CanSino.

According to Arya News, this local Chinese vaccine is termed as PakVac and the administration would get the first dose of the vaccine by this month.

A senior health official, Faisal Sultan opined that the product has undergone vigorous internal testing and is a significant stride towards the development of a vaccine supply line in Pakistan. The official expressed his heartfelt wishes for the premier health institute of Pakistan for such an effort.

Sultan, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination stated, “Congratulations to the NIH Pak team and its leadership for successful fill/finish (from concentrate) of the Cansino vaccine with the help of Cansino Bio Inc, China. The product has passed the rigorous internal QA testing. An imp step to help in our vaccine supply.”

The 124,000 CanSino jabs that are produced to expected to be available soon.

Within a short time, the regulatory and health authority body of Pakistan shall examine the vaccine and give a green signal to it. After that, NHI can shall the permission to develop three million jabs every month.

As there is a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines in Pakistan, the renowned critics are of the opinion that the country is producing vaccines only for the rich strata of the society.

A complete dose of Sputnik V costs USD 80, while the monthly income of a common person is about USD 110 in Pakistan. The New York Times stated that the inadequacy of supply have posed a threat to the sale of vaccines, thus making them available for the particular group of people in Pakistan.

Zain Rizvi, an expert on medicine access at Public Citizen, an advisory group in Washington stated, “The Pakistan example is a microcosm of what has gone wrong with the global response- where wealth alone has primarily shaped who gets access. Ending the pandemic will require the global community to do much more than just that.”

As of now, China and Covax initiative has provided 13 million vaccines to Pakistan. The total number of positive cases reached more than 900,000