ISLAMABAD: British high commissioner to Pakistan, Christian Turner, tweeted on Saturday that Pakistan had received 1.2 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

“This pandemic has kept us apart, but also brought us together. Welcoming the arrival of first batch of #COVAX UniofOxford AstraZeneca vaccines in Pakistan; 1.2m doses for world’s 5th largest country,” Turner said on Twitter.

Concerns over links to rare blood clots continue to weigh on AstraZeneca’s roll out around the world, after a very small number of people developed clots and low platelet levels post administration of the shot.

On Friday, the UK said its citizens under 40 would be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine where possible and while infection rates remain low-- following a recommendation from government advisers.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has been reported to have an efficacy rate as high as 86 percent in people aged 60 or older after just one dose.

In Pakistan, the National Command and Operation Center reported 120 deaths over the last 24 hours on Saturday morning and said total active cases in the country stood at 82,731 as the nation battles a third wave of the virus.

Meanwhile, the first locally produced batch of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, CanSino, will be available for use in Pakistan by the end of May, planning minister Asad Umar said in a tweet on Friday.

The single-dose vaccine is being processed at the National Institute for Health in the capital Islamabad.

“The first batch of bulk cansino vaccine being processed at the National Institute of Health plant set up for this purpose last month. Specially trained team working on it. Will inshallah be available for use by end of May after going thru rigorous quality control checks,” Umar said on Twitter with a photograph.

China’s CanSino Biologics Inc. reported in February that interim data showed the shot was 68.83 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 disease two weeks after vaccination but that the rate fell to 65.28 percent after four weeks. 

The company’s chief scientific officer told Reuters in April that a second CanSino shot given to trial participants six months after their first injection could offer substantial protection-- possibly over 90 percent.

Pakistan plans to begin vaccinating its entire population aged 18 and above after Eid ul-Fitr.