Muhammad Zamir Assadi

With the arrival of Chinese Sinopharm vaccines in Islamabad amid the 2nd phase of COVID-19 pandemic, Pakistan have kicked off vaccination campaign at the largest level in the country to tackle the disease by aiming to save the precious lives. The arrival of Chinese vaccine was the landmark moment for the country that is still struggling to curb the containment of the pandemic by implementing the stricter SOPs.

Pakistan has so far confirmed 546,428 cases and lost 11,683 lives to the disease since the COVID-19 outbreak in the country by Tuesday dated February 2nd.

The donation of the vaccine to Pakistan is the continuity of the earlier assistance and donations that were provided by Beijing to the brotherly country in the first phase of pandemic covering facial and surgical masks, protective equipment, surgical gloves and sanitizers including all other necessary requirements.

The arrival of vaccine has spread the wave of happiness and excitement for the frontline workers who have played the historical role in fight against COVID-19 performing their duties around the clock and there were many who sacrificed their lives just to save the lives of their countrymen.

The same kind of excitement and welcome for the arrival of Chinese vaccines in the various countries have also been recorded as the Chinese domestically developed vaccines have emerged as the ray of hope for all in fight against covid-19. The pandemic challenge was the horrific nightmare for the South Asian country but with timely sharing of medical experience by the Chinese doctors to their Pakistani counterparts enabled the medical community to perform their obligations smoothly. Although, the containment of the pandemic was a challenging job but with the guidance of Chinese experience and with the visionary policies implemented by the government helped the people a lot to curb the virus. As the special Pakistani plane landed at the Islamabad airport, the netizens showed huge respect for the Chinese donations on the popular social Medias in Pakistan as this Chinese gesture was trending on top on various popular media networks. People commented that the arrival of Chinese donation is another proof of the deeply rooted strategic partnership and brotherhood that have always remained successful in the testing times for both sides. The comments also claimed that traditional friendship between the two nations is progressing smoothly and the donation of Chinese vaccine to Pakistan have really shown the true spirit of the idiom stating "A friend in need is a friend in deed." There were millions of comments by the Pakistani netizens on social media networks showing their excitement on receiving the Sionpharm vaccine and paid a huge thanks to Chinese leadership and Communist Party of China (CPC). People believed that the arrival of Chinese vaccine in Pakistan shows that China really cares for their partners and is practically helping the international community for curbing the virus smoothly and effectively. The development of Chinese vaccine within a short span of time after the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 also shows the Chinese system have performed as per the expectations of the international community, who were looking for the help towards Beijing. The development of Chinese vaccines is a message for international community that China is marching ahead of time and the expectations of the Chinese partner countries are on the rise. This vaccine have been approved for the emergency use not only by Pakistan as the other Asian, African, Latin American and countries from various regions have also approved the usage of Sinopharm to secure the lives of their people. The emergency use of the vaccine had proved the safety and efficacy of Sinopharm and it has shown their confidence on the technological advancement of Chinese medical sector. The trust of these countries show that the domestic development of Chinese vaccines is in strict compliance with international standards and relevant laws and regulations. The approval of Chinese vaccines for emergency use shows its effectiveness against the deadly disease and is performing well in curbing the pandemic and it is the major reason that it Beijing is gaining acknowledgement and huge applause around the world. The provision of Chinese vaccines to number countries fulfills the already announced Chinese commitment that was made by President Xi Jinping about making the vaccine as a global public good. The actions taken by Chinese side to make vaccine accessible and affordable for humanity is a step ahead for forming the shared future of global community. The vaccine donations are ensuring at the international fora that the peaceful rise of China have the capacity and intention to fulfill the global needs in all walks of lives. The journey of Chinese medical equipment transfer to the needy countries in fight against COVID-19 including the availability of vaccines shows that Chinese system have gained the remarkable success and achievement in meeting the greatest challenge of the human history. The research and development process for vaccine by Chinese medical scientists have shown that they did not spare any effort to meet the expectations of the global community that was in a dire need for miraculous prescription. The support of the Chinese government for the development of vaccine in China including cooperation with World Health Organizations (WHO) and other countries is a commitment of Chinese leadership with globalization and multilateralism. It must be noted that the outbreak of COVID-19 has just changed the dynamics of international scenarios and have a lesson for all that the human being needs to shake hand with others and we cannot move ahead in isolation. This outbreak is a message for all that the planet belongs to us and the approach of unilateralism and anti-globalization cannot move forward by leaving others behind the curtain. The other western nations should also open their hearts and minds to accept the Chinese vaccines for securing the lives of their respected citizens. This disease does not belong to any community, ethnicity, country and nation so in the same way the cure of the disease also does not belong to any single community, nationality and ethnicity. As it was witnessed that the disease ravaged all by putting aside different ideologies so it is the compulsion on us to hit back against the COVID-19 with the smooth coordination. The Chinese humanitarian operations have shown that the every single citizen in its partner countries will have equal access to the vaccines and transparency is being ensured. China have always attached the great importance for the rescue of the people in trouble and that is the factual and logical reason for the expansion of Chinese soft power under the guidance of Diplomacy.

The author is a Pakistani journalist writing on various international issues. He was also a China-South Asia and South East Asia press center media fellow for 2017