ISLAMABAD: The first consignment of Russian-made COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V on Wednesday reached Pakistan.

According to the well-informed sources in the National Institute of Health (NIH), a foreign airline carrying one million doses of Sputnik V vaccine landed at Islamabad airport. The vaccine has been purchased by the government of Pakistan from Russia.

The consignment has been moved to the central warehouse of the federal Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI) from the airport, and the same will be distributed to the province as per requirement after the finalisation of the distribution plan, sources said.

Separately, on August 26, Pakistan had received another consignment of 3 million doses of Pfizer COVID vaccine from the United States via the COVAX global distribution program. The shipment was part of a US vaccine diplomacy effort that has sent vaccines to dozens of countries. The doses were delivered through the COVAX program, run by the World Health Organization (WHO), the official had said.