ISLAMABAD: China has donated delivered a batch of COVID-19 vaccine for Pakistan’s armed forces, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Monday.
The Pakistan army is the first foreign military to receive vaccine assistance from China. The military’s media wing said the army has decided to donate the vaccine to the national vaccination drive so it can be administered to frontline healthcare workers across Pakistan who are “real heroes fighting against pandemic and saving precious lives.”
“This is keeping with the armed forces’ traditional spirit of ‘nation comes first, always and every time,” said the ISPR said. It also extended the deepest gratitude to the PLA and People’s Republic of China for this magnanimous donation during testing times.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has delivered a batch of COVID-19 vaccine to the Pakistani military. China’s Ministry of National Defense said the Pakistani military is the first foreign military to receive the COVID-19 vaccine assistance from the Chinese military.
The PLA had offered vaccines to realize China’s pledges of making the COVID-19 vaccine as global public goods and under the request of the Pakistani army. The vaccine offered was produced by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm.
Last week, the first batch of 500,000 China-assisted COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Pakistan, ten days after Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised Pakistan that China would assist Pakistan with vaccines and has accelerated vaccine exports to the country.
In addition to Pakistan, China has provided vaccine assistance to 13 developing countries, including Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It also planned to offer assistance to 38 more developing countries.
