At Least 2 Weeks Needed for Exploring Vaccine Source

The government is exploring Covid vaccines from three alternative sources -- Russia, China and the USA— and it will take at least two weeks to complete the process, said Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday.

“It’s a reasonable time,” he told reporters at his residence, adding that talks with India are also underway to get at least 2 to 3 million doses of vaccine for addressing Bangladesh’s immediate need.

The US will begin sharing its entire stock of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines with the world once it clears federal safety reviews, the White House said on Monday, with as many as 60 million doses expected to be available for export in the coming months.

Dr Momen said Bangladesh can allow the emergency use of vaccines from Russia and China. "We'll get the vaccine wherever we get it." 

He briefed the journalists at his residence after a China-led virtual meeting that discussed cooperation among countries to deal with the Covid-19 situation, including setting up of “Covid Emergency Medical Storage Facility”.

He said China shared three ideas, including installing a development center, to deal with post-Covid poverty and an e-Commerce Forum.

“We should believe in multilateralism. We laid emphasis on cooperation and partnership,” said the Foreign Minister.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi invited his counterparts in four other South Asian countries to the virtual meeting.

The Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan joined the meeting.

Dr Momen said China also welcomes India in this process and it is up to India to decide.

He said China will give 6 lakh doses of vaccine as a gift and hoped that Bangladesh will get a vaccine through commercial purchase soon.

Bangladesh has received 7 million of Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine doses produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) vaccines through its contract. Bangladesh also received 3.3 million doses of vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift.

This is the largest amount sent from India to any country.