China gifts 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

ISLAMABAD -- China on Thursday announced a gift of 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine for Pakistan.

'China would provide 500,000 doses of vaccine by Jan 31,' Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said after a telephone conversation with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

He said the first consignment of vaccines was being given as a 'grant assistance' and goodwill gesture by China.

The vaccine being provided by China is manufactured by the state-owned firm Sinopharm and is said to boast an efficacy of 79 per cent.

The vaccine has been approved for emergency use by China and four other countries, and for official registration by two countries. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan had earlier this week given approval for its emergency use in the country.

According to the company, some 10 million doses of the vaccine have already been administered in China.

The Chinese announcement about the vaccine gift came after India started shipping vaccine doses to the countries in the neighbourhood. Pakistan was not included in India's list because it did not request Delhi for the vaccine.

Pakistan and China had been in talks for provision of the vaccines since December.

'Indeed Pakistan greatly appreciates the 500,000 doses of the vaccine gifted by China,' Mr Qureshi said.

Pakistan is the first country to get vaccines from China because of what the foreign minister described as the 'strategic relationship' between the two countries.

The foreign minister said he had informed his counterpart that Pakistan's requirement was much greater and at least 1.1 million additional doses were required in the first phase of the vaccination drive. Pakistan plans to vaccinate the frontline health workers during the phase.

'Mr Wang Yi has promised to fulfill...