Bangladesh to receive 100,000 doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in May

Bangladesh is set to receive 100,000 doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine next month, says the chief of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

“We will receive the vaccine doses under the Covax scheme,” Director General Prof ABM Khurshid Alam said on Sunday.

The DGHS chief was speaking to the media following an online discussion meeting marking World Malaria Day arranged by the directorate.

Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum Institute of India to purchase 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in November. Beximco Pharma is responsible for procuring the doses, according to the deal.

Prof Khurshid told Dhaka Tribune that Beximco Pharma had been asked to take necessary steps to bring two million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from Serum Institute of India as soon as possible to dispel any uncertainty over Bangladesh’s inoculation drive.

As deadly variants of the virus were spreading rapidly across India, a proposal had been sent to the authorities concerned to stop all communication with the neighbouring country, excluding the transportation of emergency goods, UNB reported him as saying.

Meanwhile, Prof Robed Amin, spokesperson for the DGHS, in a news bulletin on Sunday said: “China has informed us that it will provide us with 600,000 Chinese Covid-19 vaccines as gifts.”

Moreover, discussions over the potential coproduction of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine had been going well, and the authorities concerned would make an announcement if an agreement was signed, he added.