Pakistani PM receives Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine jab

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (L) receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Islamabad, Pakistan, March 18, 2021. Days after Pakistani president received a Sinopharm vaccine jab, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday also received his COVID-19 jab with Sinopharm vaccine. (Press Information Department of Pakistan/Handout via Xinhua)

ISLAMABAD, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Days after Pakistani president received a Sinopharm vaccine jab, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday also received his COVID-19 jab with Sinopharm vaccine.

Khan, 68, received his COVID-19 jab in Islamabad, Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan confirmed.

The Pakistani prime minister was administered the vaccine dose during the second phase of the vaccination process in the country in which people over 60 years of age are receiving vaccine doses.

On the occasion, Khan stressed that people across the country should follow the standard operating procedures to fight against the third wave of COVID-19 in the country, according to a statement from the Prime Minister Office.

On Monday, Pakistani President Arif Alvi and his wife Samina Alvi received their COVID-19 jabs with the Sinopharm vaccine in Islamabad.

Pakistan on Wednesday received the second batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government.

Pakistan officially launched its National COVID Immunization Program across the country in early February shortly after receiving the Chinese government-donated Sinopharm vaccines, with the frontline healthcare workers given the priority for inoculation.