Pakistan to prepare CanSino vaccine locally from next month: sources

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will prepare a Chinese coronavirus vaccine locally from the next month, quoting sources ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The vaccine prepared by CanSino Bio will be made locally in the beginning of May, the sources at the National Institute of Health (NIH) disclosed.

The CanSino Bio single dose corona vaccine will be prepared at the National Institute of Health, sources said.

“Locally prepared single-dose vaccine will be available for use in the end of May,” according to sources.

The raw material for the vaccine will be provided by the Chinese company.

Pakistan has procured special equipment and a team of CanSino Bio training Pakistani manpower at the NIH.

According to sources, the raw material of the corona vaccine is expected to reach Pakistan in next few days.

The first batch of the coronavirus vaccine will be prepared in presence of the Chinese experts, sources further said.

Pakistan will prepare 20 million doses of the CanSino vaccine, for which raw material will be provided by the Chinese firm in bulk.

“In the initial stage limited doses of the vaccine will be prepared,” sources said.

Pakistan had earlier said that it will import China’s CanSino COVID-19 vaccine in bulk to package the doses locally.

Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar, who leads the country’s anti-virus strategy, said in a tweet: “The bulk vaccine received will be formulated, sterilized and packed in Pakistan.”

For this purpose, he added, special equipment has been procured and manpower is being trained.

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan has approved four vaccines for use in the country so far, including China’s Sinopharm and CanSino, Russia’s Sputnik V and Oxford University’s AstraZeneca.