Pakistan gets 1.55 million Sinovac doses from China

PIA plane, carrying COVID-19 vaccine jabs, arrives in Islamabad; China has been a time-tested friend and is taking measures to ensure an uninterrupted vaccine supply to Pakistan: NCOC

A special flight of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) carrying 1.55 million doses of vaccine from China has landed at the Islamabad airport, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Sunday.

The shipment of Sinovac vaccine arrived in Islamabad on board a special PIA flight, the NCOC stated.

The NCOC said that Pakistan has purchased the vaccine from China’s Sinovac and another two to three million doses of vaccine will reach Pakistan in the next week. “China has been a time-tested friend and it is taking measures to ensure an uninterrupted vaccine supply to Pakistan,” the NCOC said.

The provinces and other federating units will be provided the vaccine according to their requirement and all preparations are complete to supply vaccine to the provinces, the NCOC said.

Frustration among people seeking jabs of COVID-19 vaccine has heightened due to the closures of several inoculation centres across Pakistan in the wake of shortage of vaccines.

Scores of people have broken the main gate of mega Expo Centre in Lahore and entered it’s premises ater the administration stopped inoculation due to shortage of vaccine and made them wait outside the building for hours in the scorching heat.

The charged people also broke the windowpanes of the Expo hall, to vent their anger for being denied vaccination and the government mismanagement resulting in vaccine shortage.

The protesters alleged that the government response towards the global emergency and public outcry over vaccine shortage was pathetic.

They were of the view that despite the reports of vaccine shortage a couple of weeks back the provincial as well as federal governments turned a deaf ear to the issue as nothing was done to ensure uninterrupted supply to avoid a crisis which has now deepened further.

They said because of the negligence of the authorities concerned, almost all the centres in Punjab, particularly in Lahore, had run out of the COVID-19 vaccine and citizens had to pay the price.

A three-hour-long protest and unrest at the Expo Centre prompted the health department to immediately call police to control the situation and dispatch teams in a bid to make available the vaccine stock there. There were reports that the inoculation resumed at the centre by the evening.

The health authorities, however, blamed the incident on a physical clash between two groups of people visiting the centre to get vaccinated. The officials claimed that a group tried to force entry into the Expo Centre, violating the standard operating procedures (SOPS), which irritated the other group, leading to a physical clash.

However, eyewitnesses said some health officials tried to mislead the public as well as the government functionaries by fabricating a false story of the clash in order to cover up their negligence.

They said the citizens started visiting the centre early on Saturday to avoid rush, finding the main gate of the facility locked. They kept waiting for about two hours in the hot weather and were later disallowed entry. On being questioned, the security guards misbehaved with them, they added. The witnesses said the crowd kept increasing and finally the visitors got wind that the centre was closed down because of vaccine shortage.

What enraged the waiting crowd most were unconfirmed reports that “some selected people” were being inoculated inside the centre, they said, adding that on learning this, those waiting outside in the scorching heat lost temper and forced their entry into the premises by breaking open the main gate.

An official said all the vaccination centres in Punjab, except the three in Lahore, were closed for the last three days or so due to the vaccine shortage.

In Hyderabad, almost all vaccination centres have been shut down. According to the health ministry, as many as 6,000 people were being inoculated at 21 centres in the city.

In Nawabshah, people had to leave the vaccination centres without geting vaccine jabs.