A fresh batch of two million Covid-19 vaccines arrived in Pakistan from China on Wednesday.
According to reports, a special Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft - PK6852 - flew from Beijing to Islamabad on Wednesday carrying the Covid-19 jabs.
The vaccines were handed over to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) upon arrival at the Islamabad Airport.
On June 20, a special consignment of 1.55 million Sinovac anti-Covid vaccine doses arrived at the Islamabad airport through a special PIA flight, announced the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).
The consignment was part of the emergency orders the federal government had placed to overcome a countrywide shortage of jabs.
“China as a time tested friend of Pakistan has taken special measures to ensure uninterrupted supply of vaccines to Pakistan,” the NCOC statement read. The NCOC further added that another consignment of two to three million doses of the Chinese vaccine will be reaching Pakistan in the next week followed by continued supply. Measures are in place to transport these vaccines to all federating units according to their requirement.
On June 19, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said that the government had placed emergency orders for supplies of the coronavirus vaccines and the fresh supplies would begin to reach the country from June 20.
Dr Sultan said that Pakistan would receive around seven million vaccine doses over the next 10 days, mainly from China.
The government’s ongoing vaccination drive faced a paucity of jabs in various parts of the country this week. According to reports, only a few vaccine centres were functioning in Punjab, while Sindh announced that there would be no vaccination on Sunday.