Islamabad (Web Desk): The first batch of COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Pakistan from China, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan announced on Monday.
In a tweet on Monday, he said that the government is grateful to China and everyone who made this happen.
Dr Faisal said National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) all provinces played an instrumental role in tackling COVID.
Appreciating frontline healthcare workers for their efforts, the SAPM said that they will be first to get vaccinated.
A special Pakistan Air Force (PAF) plane carrying 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine landed at the Noor Khan Airbase in Islamabad on Monday (today) morning.
According to the NCOC, all necessary measures have been put in place for the vaccine storage in Islamabad and its onward transportation to other parts of the country.
A vaccine nerve center has been established at NCOC along with vaccine administration and coordination centres at provincial and district level.
On Sunday, special plane on Sunday left for China to bring back the transportation of the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan.
On Saturday, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), in its daily meeting, told that a special plane will fly to China on Sunday to transport the first batch of the 500,000 does of Covid-19 vaccine that China had promised to provide.
The forum was informed that all necessary measures have been put in place for vaccine storage in Islamabad and for the supply of vaccine to various federating units, particularly to Sindh and Balochistan via air.
A vaccine nerve centre has been established at the NCOC with provincial and district level vaccine administration, coordination centres and adult vaccination centres linked together in close liaison.
Last week, China assured Pakistan of the provision of 500,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses by January 31.
On January 28, the federal government approved the emergency use of three Covid-19 vaccines including Russia’s Sputnik-V, China’s Sinopharm and UK’s Oxford-AstraZeneca for which a step-by-step guide was also issued.