Covid-19 vaccine: 2nd batch to arrive on Monday

Bangladesh is all set to receive the second batch of Oxford University-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India (SII) on Monday.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals Managing Director Nazmul Hasan Papon confirmed the matter on Sunday, reports Bangla Tribune.

“The flight schedule has not yet been fixed. The exact arrival time will be confirmed Monday morning. However, we are most certainly getting the doses [on Monday],” Papon, who is also a ruling party lawmaker, added.

Earlier on February 15, Papon, also the president of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), had said: “Bangladesh will get around 0.3 million more doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in the second consignment. However, the quantity may vary depending on need, as we have six million vaccine jabs in stock right now. So there will be no crisis.”

He made the remarks after being administered with the Covid-19 vaccine at Dhaka’s Kurmitola General Hospital.

Bangladesh received the first batch of five million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on January 25. Earlier on January 20, the Indian government sent two million doses of the vaccine to Bangladesh as a gift.

On November 5, 2020, Bangladesh signed a deal with SII for the procurement of 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. As per contract, Serum Institute will supply five million doses each month.

Bangladesh began its nationwide vaccination efforts on February 7.