The National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHS, R&C) has said that Pakistan has placed an order to purchase single-dose of China’s CanSinoBio COVID-19 vaccine.

An official of the NHS told The News, that the first batch of the vaccine is expected to be delivered to Pakistan within a week. "Its first tranche of 60,000 doses is expected to be delivered to Pakistan within a week,” the official said. But, added that no exact date of vaccine delivery could be given at the moment.

The official shared that the vaccine would also be manufactured partially in Pakistan, adding that Pakistani scientists and experts would be trained by the Chinese biotechnology firm for manufacturing the vaccine.

On February 12, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had approved the vaccine for emergency use in Pakistan. CanSinoBIO's vaccine was approved for use in the Chinese military last year and has since been given to at least 40,000-50,000 people. It uses a modified common cold virus known as adenovirus type-5 (Ad5) to carry genetic material from the coronavirus protein into the body.