PAF plane departs for China to airlift first tranche of COVID-19 vaccine

(Karachi) A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) plane has departed for China on Sunday (today) to bring the first batch of Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine comprising 500,000 doses, local media reported. The plane will arrive with the vaccine on February 1 (Monday).

As per details, PAF aircraft, IL-78, left for Beijing from Noor Khan Base. In the first phase, China will provide Pakistan with 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine. The authorities have confirmed that China has donated a total of 1.1 million vaccine doses to Pakistan.

The vaccine would be preserved in the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) and National Disaster Management Authority’s (NDMA) cold storage from where it will be transported to the provinces.

The first batch of vaccines will be provided by the Chinese government as an aid, the foreign office spokesperson said and added that the Chinese government will “actively coordinate with the relevant Chinese enterprise to speed up the export of vaccines to Pakistan”.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said that all arrangements for storage, transportation and administration of the vaccine have been finalised.

It said all measures for vaccine distribution across Sindh and Balochistan provinces have also been completed.