Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said on Tuesday that the country will soon receive an influx of Covid-19 vaccine from China’s CanSino Biologics by mid-April.

“We will be getting a bulk vaccine by mid april from cansino from which 3 million vaccine doses can be made,” he tweeted.

“The bulk vaccine received will be formulated, sterilized and packed in Pakistan. For this purpose special equipment has been procured and manpower is being trained,” Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), said.

We will be getting bulk vaccine by mid april from cansino from which 3 million vaccine doses can be made. The bulk vaccine recieved will be formulated, sterilized and packed in Pakistan. For this purpose special equipment has been procured and manpower is being trained

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) March 30, 2021

Besides, the Minister said the first batch of CanSino vaccine procured by the government will be received today. He recalled the country had participated in the vaccine’s phase 3 trials, which, he said, was the first time ever that Pakistan had done so for any vaccine.

Separately, Umar wrote letters to the provinces seeking the strict enforcement of Covid-19 SOPs.

He said the latest wave of the coronavirus is spreading fast with the positivity rate going up.

The Minister emphasized that the provinces fought fairly well during the first and second wave of COVID-19 but the third wave is giving a tough time to the country because the adherence to SOPs is not being observed efficiently.

He went on to say that the SOPs devised by the NCOC are being neglected during the on-going course of political and social events nation-wide.