1st batch of CanSino COVID-19 vaccines arrives in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of CanSino COVID-19 vaccines that the Pakistani government purchased from China arrived here Tuesday night.

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 CanSino Biologics Inc. told Xinhua that the single-dose CanSino COVID-19 vaccine is expected to facilitate the building of immunity in the Pakistani society to help the country restore the normal functioning of society and economy.

In February, Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan said that the third phase trials of the CanSino vaccine showed that it is 74.8 percent efficient in preventing symptomatic cases of COVID-19 in the country.

Sharing results of the trials in Pakistan on social media, Sultan said the COVID-19 vaccine proved 100 percent efficient at preventing severe disease in Pakistan.

Sultan further said that the interim analysis by an independent data monitoring committee also said that the vaccine showed 65.7 percent efficacy at preventing symptomatic cases and 90.98 percent at preventing severe disease in multi-country analysis, adding that the committee did not report any serious safety concerns regarding the vaccine.

Currently, Pakistan is facing a third wave of COVID-19 and the positivity rate has seen a sharp rise, forcing the Pakistani authorities to continue tightening the anti-pandemic measures including banning public gatherings across the country.

A total of 4,084 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Pakistan during the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 663,200 out of which 14,356 died and 600,278 recovered, according to the data released by the country's health ministry on Tuesday.