Medical experts here have also expressed their belief that the vaccine trials have opened up a new vista of Pakistan-China cooperation in the health sector, in addition to bilateral ties in energy, infrastructure and industrialization under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

"China has always played a major role in helping Pakistan in different sectors ... Now China offered us phase III clinical trials, helping us to upgrade in the health sector," Ghazala Parveen, chief of Biological Production Division at the NIH, told Xinhua.

She said that many developing countries, including Pakistan, have high hopes for China to develop and distribute a vaccine.