Foreign minister reassures on adequate vaccine supply from multiple sources

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.

The Bangladesh Mission in Geneva has conveyed that Bangladesh will receive three 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 initiative, added 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 also come under Covax.”

Japan will send 2.9 m doses of #AstraZeneca vaccine to Bangladesh soon. 🇯🇵 will stand by 🇧🇩 in the fight against #COVID19. Today, FM Motegi made an announcement 15 countries in the region will be provided with 11 m doses in total under the #COVAX facilities.

— Naoki Ito (@ito_naoki) July 13, 2021

Also Read - Covid-19: Bangladesh to receive 6 million Pfizer vaccine doses under Covax in August

The foreign minister said that he will have a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Tashkent on Thursday as China will give one million more doses of Sinopharm vaccine as gift to Bangladesh. 

Bangladesh has already received 1.1 million Sinopharm jabs from China as a gift.

Dr Momen said that Bangladesh will also receive one million doses of Covid vaccine from the European Union (EU). 

In August, Bangladesh will receive another 620,000 vaccine doses under the Covax arrangement.

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.

Also Read -Bangladesh hopeful of receiving 3.5 million vaccine doses from Covax in July 

The minister had earlier said that Bangladesh was in a good position as the government had ensured a line-up for receiving vaccine consignments from a number of sources.

He said there will be no vaccine crisis and the vaccination program 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 two million doses has already arrived.

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

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