The year 2020 saw the spread of a terrible global pandemic and since then, while physicians have been fighting the battle on the front lines, scientists and other relevant experts have been tirelessly working day and night to create a cure, find a vaccine and rid the international community of this horrid disease.
In an announcement by Dr. Nausheen Hamid, Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services, it was publicized that the state of Pakistan will start vaccinating its citizens against the virus, free of charge, as soon as the start of the second quarter of 2021, specifically by April next year.
She tweeted, “The PTI government will provide the coronavirus vaccine free of charge to people. The government will start the vaccination from the second quarter of 2021.”
Statistics indicate 2,829 new cases with about 75 new deaths incurring over the past 24 hours. The total death rate has risen to 8,166 and an estimated 345,365 patients have recuperated.
Clinical trials for Ad5 are being conducted in the country the response has majorly been positive. Health care specialists are confident that it will work wonders and will have a huge impact on the road to recovery.
Dr. Faisal Sultan, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for Health shared that shortlisting for procurement purposes has commenced and the cabinet has allotted a budget of PKR 150M for the entire process of purchasing the vaccine. He further added that the 1st phase will give priority to people above the age of 60 and these individuals will be the first to get injected.
The Institute of Biology at China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and CanSino Biologics developed the Ad5 vaccine. It consists of an altered form of adenovirus aka cold virus that will carry the genetic material of the new coronavirus into the cells. Once the body’s cells are exposed to this they will begin making a coronavirus protein, a human being’s immune system will recognize the protein and attack it.
