WHO gave emergency use listing to Beijing's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine, making it the sixth overall, and the first Chinese vaccine to receive WHO validation for safety, efficacy, and quality.
Officials said Duterte was given the vaccine made by China's Sinopharm -- the same one secretly administered to members of his security team last year before any shot had been given regulatory approval.
"He was vaccinated not only to protect his health from Covid-19 but also to encourage our citizens to get vaccinated," Senator Christopher "Bong" Go posted.
The South Asian nation of 220 million people launched COVID-19 vaccinations for the public on March 10, starting with older people. Health workers started receiving shots in early February.
"These 500,000 doses will ensure smooth continuation of our vaccine drive, currently under way for senior citizens," Sultan said.
Pakistan is expecting to get GAVI's first batch of 2.8 million doses of AstraZeneca sometime later this month, officials said.
NCOC states that the Sinopharm vaccine is being administered to people up to the age of 60 years, however, it would now be used to inoculate citizens above 60 years of age too
On February 2, the first batch of 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine arrived in Pakistan as a gift from China
At the request of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the president also raised the question of Polish-Chinese cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, including the possibility of Poland purchasing vaccines produced in China.
Like other EU countries, Poland's vaccination programme has been hampered by delays in deliveries from producers like AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
Like other African countries that have struggled to procure vaccines, Senegal is still waiting for disbursements through African Union and World Health Organization-backed (WHO) programmes.
It was not clear how many doses would be in the first shipment or when vaccinations might start.
Foreign minister says China's befitting gesture once again demonstrated that it stood by Pakistani people in the hour of need
Qureshi thanked the People's Liberation Army and Chinese doctors for coming to Pakistan and training medical health professionals on how to combat the virus
The government opened the door to the Chinese vaccine on Thursday when it announced that it would grant emergency use approval to any shot already administered to at least a million people anywhere in the world.
“We have practically made an agreement with Sinopharm,” Gulyas said. “The first shipment could include up to one million doses.”