Bangladesh receives 45 lakh doses of Covid vaccines

A total of 45 lakh doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, including 25 lakh doses of Moderna vaccine from the US and 20 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China, arrived in the country on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Bangladesh received the Moderna vaccine under the Covax facility and purchased the Sinopharm vaccine.

Dr Mowla Baksh Chaudhury, program manager (EPI), Directorate General of Health Services, told The Business Standard, "The vaccines are kept in EPI storage by maintaining cold chain. No decision has been made yet on when these vaccines will be given."

The first consignment of 12.50 lakh doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine landed at the Shahjalal International Airport at around 11:30pm on Friday and the rest arrived in another flight at around 8:40am Saturday.

Meanwhile, a special flight of Bangladesh Biman carried 10 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccines from China around 12:30am on Saturday. Another special flight brought the rest at around 5:30am.

Currently, Bangladesh is providing the second doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to people on a limited scale. In addition, from 1 July, a nationwide mass immunisation programme has been launched again with 10 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine, received as gift, and 1.06 lakh doses of Pfizer vaccine.

Medical and dental students, university students, law enforcement personnel and expatriate workers are getting these vaccines on priority basis.

The government has received positive indications from a number of countries regarding the supplies of more vaccine doses to Bangladesh, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said.

"There is nothing to be worried about. There will be plenty of vaccines. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has kept [aside] adequate funds for purchasing vaccines," he told reporters at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Friday night.

Dr Momen said the situation has stabilised as these vaccines from two sources came at a very critical time.

He thanked expatriate Bangladeshis in the US who started a campaign for ensuring vaccine doses for Bangladesh. "It helped us," he said.

Dr Momen also thanked US President Joe Biden and US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller, saying President Biden has kept his words.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque said the vaccination programme in the country will be expedited with the arrival of 45 lakh vaccine doses in the country.

He said the government is in discussions with a number of countries to get AstraZeneca vaccine doses and the foreign minister is helping them in many ways. "We have got a positive indication from those countries that they will give us AstraZeneca [vaccine]."

The health minister also said they got indications from India too that they will start supplying AstraZeneca doses from August. "Hope we will get that on time and people will be able to get their second dose [of the vaccine]."

A gift from American people

The 25 lakh doses of the US biotech firm Moderna vaccines that arrived in Dhaka are a gift from the American people, at no cost, said US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller.

"We share these vaccines with the singular objective of saving lives, because it is the right thing to do.  It is what Americans do in times of need.  When we have the capacity, we have the will, and we step up and we deliver," The US envoy said.

"The United States is committed to bringing the same urgency to international vaccination efforts as we have at home. We will use the power of our democracy, the ingenuity of American scientists, the strength of American manufacturing, and, most importantly, the resilience, commitment and generosity of spirit of the American people to help the world beat this pandemic," he said while addressing a reception at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Friday night.

"The United States was the arsenal of democracy in the global crisis of World War Two.  We are going to be an arsenal of vaccines in our shared fight to end the global crisis of Covid-19," he continued.

Ambassador Miller reiterated, "The vaccine donations arriving tonight and in a few hours are only the beginning.  The United States understands the urgency of getting as many safe and effective vaccines to Bangladesh as quickly as possible. And we understand to save lives around the world, stop the threat of new variants, and rebuild the global economy we must work together to quickly vaccinate as many people as possible everywhere."

The ambassador said the United States has been Bangladesh's closest partner for the past five decades working to improve public health. "Today, at this uniquely challenging moment in history, our partnership is more important than ever," he said.  

"We do so for the people of Bangladesh, the people of America, for all people on this precious vulnerable world we are privileged and responsible to share and protect," said the US ambassador.