Pakistan reaches to procurement deal for China's CoronaVac vaccine

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reached to an agreement for procurement of China’s CoronaVac vaccine, quoting sources ARY News reported on Sunday.

Coronavac vaccine has been prepared by the Sinovac Life Sciences of China. The firm has assured providing the vaccine according to the needs of Pakistan, sources said.

Sinovac will initially provide the Coronavac vaccine to Pakistan on a limited scale, sources disclosed.

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has already issued emergency use permission for CoronaVac vaccine to a private firm of Lahore.

The company had also submitted the data of clinical trials of the vaccine to the DRAP.

CoronaVac, inactivated vaccine, comprises of two doses and stored at minus-two to eight degree Celsius temperature, sources said.

China had allowed emergency use of the CoronaVac in July 2020. Phase-I and Phase-II clinical trials of the vaccine were held in China, while phase-III trials were conducted in countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Phase-III trials of CoronaVac vaccine were held in Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia and Philippines. The vaccine found 83.5 percent effective in Turkey, while in Indonesia the effectivity was 65.3 pct.

It is to be mentioned here that scores of countries including Mexico, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines and Thailand have approved CoronaVac for use.

Indonesia had imported its first consignment of the vaccine in December 2020. Sinovac has exported 70 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to various countries in current month, sources said.

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan has also 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.