ISLAMABAD: Cuba has offered to establish a center for vaccine production in Pakistan where doses can be made for local use and exports, Pakistan’s ministry of science and technology has said.
Last month Pakistan launched the locally produced single-dose CanSino COVID-19 vaccine with the help of China.
Renamed Pakvac, the vaccine was prepared and packed at the state-run National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad under the supervision of Chinese experts. Beijing transferred the technology, and the raw material for the vaccine to Islamabad in April this year.
“Cuba has offered to establish a center for vaccine production in Pakistan which can be used for both indigenous use and exports. Ambassador of Cuba Zener Javier Caro Gonzalez proposed this during his meeting with the Federal Minister for Science and Technology,” Pakistan’s ministry of science and technology said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Cuba has offered to establish a centre for vaccine production in Pakistan which can be used for both indigenous use and exports. Ambassador of Cuba Zener Javier Caro Gonzalez proposed this during his meeting with Federal Minister for Science and Technology @ShibliFaraz, today.1/2 pic.twitter.com/WeI0n00GF6
— Ministry of Science & Technology (@MinistryofST) July 13, 2021
Pakistan is currently relying on vaccine procurement from China, using mostly Sinopharm, SinoVac and CanSinoBio jabs produced by Beijing to inoculate its 220 million strong population.
The country also has a limited stock of Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna.
The country has administered over 20 million COVID-19 vaccine doses since February and plans to inoculate about 65 million people by the end of the year.
It announced that it had administered more than half a million doses on Monday, the first time it achieved that figure in a day.
For the first time we crossed half a million doses of vaccination yesterday. 5 lakh 25 thousand doses were administered yesterday. Highest ever first dose was also achieved yesterday with 3 lakh 90 thousand first doses administered. The pace will increase further inshallah
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) July 13, 2021
Pakistan reported 1,980 new infections in the last 24 hours, with a national positivity ratio of 4.17 percent on Wednesday, a significant rise from previous weeks.
