This is a revolution,’ says Asad Umar at launch ceremony of locally processed Covid-19 vaccine

On Tuesday, Asad Umar, Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives said that the first locally produced coronavirus vaccine in Pakistan is a revolution. While vaccines were in high demand worldwide, Chinese-produced were “the most preferred” in Pakistan.

Cansino, China’s medicine company, created the PakVac vaccine, shipped it to Pakistan in concentrated form and packaged it at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad. Cansino was the first Chinese vaccine to be clinically tested in Pakistan, and it was given to around 18,000 individuals.

According to the company’s interim efficacy data from a multi-country experiment that included Pakistan, the vaccine had a 65.7 per cent efficiency in avoiding symptomatic coronavirus cases and a 90.98 per cent success rate in halting severe infections.

The vaccination was 74.8 per cent effective in avoiding symptomatic cases and 100 per cent effective in preventing severe illness in the Pakistani subgroup.

In his speech at the event on Tuesday, Umar said that Pakistanis preferred Chinese-made vaccinations over those produced in Western countries, adding that people specifically requested Chinese vaccines while visiting vaccination centres. “We also need to market PakVac since we make it,” he said. “We are seeing a revolution.”

He complimented the Pakistani health personnel and their Chinese colleagues who helped set up the vaccine packaging process.

The federal minister thanked the Chinese authorities, saying, “We too draw inspiration from China, and our prime minister also offers their example regularly.” It’s nice to see how China has always backed us.”

Earlier in the event, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health, Dr Faisal Sultan, emphasised building a centralised health data centre, stressing that although health is a decentralised topic, confident choices required common approval.

“We saw the NCOC make several crucial decisions, and all provinces were kept in the loop before advancing.”