Pakistan gets 4th batch of China-donated vaccines

The fourth batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by China arrived in Pakistan yesterday, according to the Chinese Embassy.

The batch of Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines will facilitate Pakistan's fight against the pandemic, the embassy said.

On Tuesday, while attending the launch ceremony of the locally produced Chinese CanSino COVID-19 vaccine, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong said since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Chinese and Pakistani governments, and people had helped each other by all means, further strengthening the ironclad ties between the two countries.

"We are proud that Pakistan is the first country to receive the vaccine gifted by the Chinese government and military," he said, adding that China will deepen its cooperation with Pakistan in fighting against COVID-19 and provide all possible support and assistance until Pakistan fully overcomes the pandemic.

Earlier in the year, the Chinese government despatched three batches of vaccines to Pakistan, and the Chinese military also donated two batches of vaccines to the Pakistani army.

In early February, Pakistan kicked off its nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign after receiving a batch of China-donated vaccines. The Pakistani government has been pushing forward the vaccination drive to consolidate the momentum in controlling the third wave of COVID-19 in the country.

The National Command and Operation Center of Pakistan said yesterday that the country has administered a total of 7,648,481 COVID-19 vaccine doses, and the vaccination for people aged between 18 and 29 years is expected to start from today.

According to the data released by the NCOC yesterday, Pakistan recorded 1,843 new COVID-19 cases and 80 deaths on Tuesday, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 924,667 with 20,930 deaths.