Half a million doses of Sinopharm vaccine reach Dhaka

Half a million doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine have arrived in Dhaka from China as a special gift.

An aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) carrying the consignment landed at the Kurmitola Air Force base in the early hours of Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen will receive the doses of vaccine officially at the state guest house Padma in the capital at noon, officials said.

On Tuesday morning, the BAF aircraft flew to China to bring the vaccine doses.  

Meanwhile, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said Bangladesh has informed China that they have a demand of 40 to 50 million doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine and expressed hope to bring those within December this year.

A letter of interest to buy the vaccine has also been sent to the Chinese authorities concerned, he told the media.

Also Read - Bangladesh writes to China to buy 40-50 million doses of Covid vaccine

Earlier, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming on Monday announced that 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine would reach Dhaka Wednesday as a special gift.

On April 29, the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) approved Sinopharm as the third Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in the country. The directorate also approved Russia's Sputnik V on April 27 as the second such vaccine.

The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said they would start the process of administering the Sinopharm vaccine, upon its arrival, among the jab takers who have already made registration for the first dose.

Bangladesh started its vaccination program across the country on February 7 by administering Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India.

As the Serum Institute could not be able to provide the doses of vaccine they promised, a good number of people have to wait for their second jabs, according to the health minister. 

In the meantime, the DGHS was forced to suspend administering the first dose on April 26.

Bangladesh received 7 million of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses through its contract. Besides, India gave Bangladesh 3.3 million vaccines as a gift.