Pakistan will begin vaccinating people against
the coronavirus from April 2021. The vaccine will be provided free of
charge; Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Dr. Nausheen Hamid
said on Wednesday. ‘The PTI government will provide the
coronavirus vaccine free of charge to people;’ Dr. Hamid wrote on Twitter. ‘Government
will start the vaccination from the second quarter of 2021.’ In the first phase
the vaccine will be administered to people over the age of 60; said Special
Assistant to the Prime Minister for Health Dr. Faisal Sultan. He announced
that the cabinet has approved Rs150 million for the procurement of the vaccine.
A few companies have also been shortlisted. Clinical trials of the Chinese
vaccine developed by CanSino Biologics are already underway in Pakistan. Health
experts have said the response to the trial has been positive. The vaccine; called Ad5; was developed by
Chinese company CanSino Biologics and the Institute of Biology at the China’s
Academy of Military Medical Sciences. It contains a modified form of the
adenovirus (cold virus) which will carry the genetic material of the new
coronavirus into the cells. Once human cells are exposed to this they will
begin making a coronavirus protein and the body’s immune system will recognize the
protein and attack it. On Wednesday; Pakistan reported 2,829 new COVID-19 cases
bringing the Totol number of cases to 403,311. With 75 new deaths reported over
24 hours the death toll has reached 8,166. So far, 345,365 have recovered from
the
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