3 more million doses of Moderna vaccine arrive in Bangladesh

Bangladesh on Monday received another three million doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from the US under the Covax facility as the government continues its efforts to speed up the nationwide vaccination drive.

A Qatar Airways cargo airplane landed at Shahjalal International Airport with the vaccines at 9:06pm, said Shahriar Sazzad, chief of DGHS unit at the airport.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and Health Minister Zahid Maleque, along with other officials concerned, received the consignment on behalf of the government.

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Charge d’ Affaires at US Embassy in Dhaka JoAnne Wagner was present at this time.

Bangladesh already received the first consignment of 2.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine under the Covax facility.

With the latest development, the total number of vaccine shots sent by the US stands at 5.5 million.

More vaccines from the US are likely to arrive in the coming months, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Wagner said: “We are pleased to donate another three million vaccines to help Bangladeshis protect themselves from Covid-19. The fight against this pandemic is not easy, but the US will continue to stand with Bangladesh, in partnership, to fight together.”

On July 8, Bangladesh resumed its mass vaccination program against Covid-19 after a hiatus caused by low supply of vaccine doses.

The country is now administering vaccine doses developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Pfizer, and Moderna.

According to the foreign minister, Russia agreed to go into co-production of its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in Bangladesh, besides exporting the jabs.