(Karachi) Pakistan is all set to receive shipments of China’s CanSino Biologics coronavirus vaccine for commercial sale this week, local media reported on Monday.

An official of AJ Pharma said it is expected that the first 10,000 doses will reach Pakistan on March 25, and 100,000 more doses by next month. He added that 200,000 CanSino vaccine doses will be shipped in May.

Earlier, health officials said the single-dose Chinese vaccine could be administered to people of all ages as it was found effective among people from 18 to 80 plus years of age during trials in Pakistan and other countries of the world.

They disclosed that the CanSino Biologics Inc.’s vaccine would also be ‘manufactured partially in Pakistan,’ following its successful conclusion of trials at five leading health institutions in the country.

The registration board of Pakistan’s Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had given emergency use authorization to CanSino Biologics’s single-dose vaccine in the second week of February 2021 after the Chinese manufacturer released interim efficacy results from a multi-country trial, which included Pakistan, showing 65.7 percent efficacy in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 cases and a 90.98 percent success rate in stopping severe infections.