Pakistan receives first shipment of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines

ISLAMABAD: The first shipment of doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Pakistan that is provided by COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), citing sources, ARY News reported on Friday.

A special flight carrying the shipment of 100,000 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine landed in Pakistan today, whereas, syringes for the vaccination will also arrive in the country in the next two days.

Pakistan has received the second shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX as the first stock of doses of Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine had arrived in the country earlier in the month.

Read: Pakistan successfully manufactures COVID vaccine locally

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is the sixth vaccine in Pakistan for expediting the process of vaccination to curb the spread of the virus.

The latest stock of COVID-19 vaccine has been transferred to Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) warehouse before its usage across Pakistan, sources told ARY News.

On May 23, Pakistan had received another 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from China.

Read: No shortage of Sinopharm vaccine in Pakistan: health ministry

A special flight of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) PK 6853 had airlifted another batch of two million doses of Sinovac vaccine from the Capital International Airport Beijing to Islamabad on Sunday.

A special flight PK 6852 had also transported a consignment of one million doses of Sinovac vaccine on May 16.

The federal government expedited the imports of COVID-19 vaccines after the virus spread intensifies in the country.

Read: Covid vaccine: Pakistan lifts age restriction for people wishing to travel abroad

In a major achievement, Pakistan on Sunday successfully manufactured a COVID vaccine locally at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad.

According to sources, overall 124,000 doses of single-dose CanSino vaccine were manufactured at the NIH and would be available for use very soon.