Pakistanis to start getting COVID-19 jabs by next week

Sources said the first batch of vaccine is likely to flown in by Saturday. China has vowed to give 500,000 doses of SinoPharm coronavirus vaccine made by the Chinese firm. Pakistan has so far approved two vaccines for emergency use, one made by China National Pharmaceutical Group (SinoPharm) and the other by AstraZeneca.

Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is also in line of getting the similar approval from the concerned authorities. The officials from the Health ministry said that the vaccine approvals will be reviewed quarterly with regard to safety, effectiveness and quality.

Health Minister Faisal Sultan has said Pakistan could get "in the range of tens of millions" of vaccine doses under an agreement with China's Cansino Biologics Inc. Pakistan also expects to get an additional 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from China.

Cansino's Ad5-nCoV vaccine candidate is also nearing completion of Phase III clinical trials in Pakistan, and initial results may be available by mid-February.

Pakistan reported 1,563 new coronavirus infections and 74 deaths in the latest 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to more than 537,477, with 11,450 deaths.