ISLAMABAD: Zahid Iqbal, 43, has become the first Pakistani living in China to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, Pakistani state news agency APP reported on Thursday.

Pakistan said last month it would purchase 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from Chinese manufacturer Sinopharm in the first official confirmation of a vaccine purchase by the South Asian country as it battles a second wave of infections.

This week, Dr. Faisal Sultan, the de facto health minister of Pakistan, said he was hopeful the country would receive the first batch of the vaccine from Sinopharm in “early February.”

Iqbal told Chinese media he received his second dose on January 10 and felt “excited," APP reported.

“At first, the news of being vaccinated was scary but after some research I decided to go for it,” said Iqbal, who hails from Sahiwal and has worked as head of curriculum and sciences at an international school in Shanghai for 18 years.

There was a long queue at the vaccination centre but “after going through different steps, I got vaccinated which felt very normal," Iqbal said.

"We were told to fill a medical consent form in case of any reactions like muscular pain, fatigue, or fever in a day or two after being vaccinated,” he added, saying he was kept under observation for 30 minutes in case of an immediate adverse reaction.

Iqbal lauded the Chinese government's prevention and control tactics during the pandemic, saying it had handled the crisis "smoothly.”