First purchased batch of China’s CanSino vaccine arrives in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The first batch of the CanSino Biologics COVID-19 vaccine that the Pakistani government has purchased from China arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday night. Chinese state media reported on Wednesday. 
On Tuesday, Asad Umar, the minister in charge of COVID-19 operations, said Pakistan would receive “bulk vaccine” from CanSino by mid-April, from which 3 million doses would be made. The bulk vaccine would be “formulated, sterilized and packed in Pakistan,” he said.
Last week, Umar said Pakistan had bought more than 1 million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm and CanSino Biologics COVID-19 vaccines, its first purchase from any manufacturer, having previously relied on donations.
“The first batch of CanSino COVID-19 vaccines that the Pakistani government purchased from China arrived here Tuesday night,” Xinhua news agency reported. “Earlier, the third phase trials of the CanSino vaccine had been conducted in Pakistan and it is the second Chinese COVID-19 vaccine that Pakistan approved for emergency use in the country.”
The vaccine shipment comes amid a third wave of the coronavirus in Pakistan, with 4,757 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours, with 78 deaths.
Pakistan began a vaccination drive last month with over a million doses of Sinopharm vaccines donated by long-time ally China, but is scrambling to get more supplies as it awaits WHO/COVAX/GAVI allocations of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which have been delayed.
Last year Pakistan had participated in the country’s first Phase 3 clinical trial for CanSino’s candidate, Ad5-nCoV, led by the government-run National Institute of Health (NIH) along with pharmaceutical company AJM — the local representative of CanSino.
On Monday, President Arif Alvi as well as Defense Minister Pervez Khattak announced they had both tested positive for COVID-19. On Tuesday, Pakistan’s former finance minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh tested positive for the coronavirus, a day after being removed from his post. 
Prime Minister Imran Khan also tested positive for the coronavirus this month, but his aides say he is now “fully recovered.”