Pakistan in phase III trials of Chinese vaccine with expectation to see COVID-free future

According to the country's National Institute of Health (NIH), some 17,500 people from different social circles and areas of the country have volunteered to take part in the trials underway at five different sites in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, the major cities of Pakistan.

The vaccine, referred to as Ad5-nCoV, is developed by China's CanSino Biologics and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology. Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad is collaborating with the NIH on the Pakistani side.

"The criteria for volunteers is very simple: anyone who is healthy and age is over 18 may come and take part in the trial," Omeira Naseer, supervisor of the vaccine trial at Shifa, told Xinhua.

"Initially it was quite a challenge for us to motivate the volunteers because it is a new experience for Pakistanis," Naseer said. "But to our surprise, more and more people and even whole families of volunteers are contacting us to undergo the trial due to the positive word of mouth from other volunteers, which created a general awareness about the safety of the vaccine and its trials."