Bangladesh to Get over 7.5m Covid Vaccine Soon: FM

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday indicated that Bangladesh will soon receive huge vaccine doses from a number of sources, including the ones that will come under the COVAX facility.

Bangladesh Mission in Geneva has conveyed that Bangladesh will receive 3 million doses of Moderna vaccine under the COVAX facility, Dr Momen said, adding that the shipment is ready.

Bangladesh has already received 2.5 million Moderna vaccine doses under the COVAX facility, said the Foreign Minister.

Dr Momen said Bangladesh will receive 2.9 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses from Japan instead of 2.5 million. “This shipment will come under the COVAX facility.”

The Foreign Minister said he will have a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Tashkent on July 15 as China will give 1 million more doses of Sinopharm vaccine as a gift to Bangladesh. Bangladesh has already received 11 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China as a gift.

Dr Momen said Bangladesh will receive 1 million doses of vaccine from the European Union. In August, Bangladesh will receive 6 lakh 20 thousand doses of vaccine under the COVAX facility.

Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Earlier, the Foreign Minister said Bangladesh is in a good position now as they have made a line-up for receiving vaccine doses from a number of sources.

He said there will be no vaccine crisis and the vaccination programme will continue uninterruptedly.

The government has planned to bring vaccine doses from Sinopharm in the next three months as per plan and the first consignment of 2 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine has already arrived.

There is a discussion on extension of agreement beyond three months and Chinese side wanted to know how much Bangladesh wants.

Responding to a question, the Foreign Minister said the government will keep in mind the issue of expiry of vaccine doses as many vaccine doses are coming together.