Govt to buy 7.5 crore doses of Sinopharm vaccine: Minister
Covid-19 in Bangladesh
The government will purchase 7.5 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses from the Chinese company Sinopharm, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said today.
The minister made the disclosure during a press briefing in Dhaka on Thursday.
He also informed the reporters that the government has already paid for 1.5 crore doses among the 7.5 crore doses of Sinopharm vaccines.
"A total of 44 lakh doses of vaccines will arrive in the country this month under the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) facility. Of the vaccines, 34 lakh Sinopharm doses will arrive next week while 10 lakh doses of AstraZeneca vaccine will reach Dhaka by this month," Abdul Momen said.
In addition, the minister said Bangladesh will get more 60 lakh doses of Pfizer vaccines in September.
Meanwhile, the mass vaccination campaign, previously slated for six days, will now be held in one day only on 7 August.
The government has changed its plan for mass Covid-19 vaccination campaign, scheduled for 7-12 August, citing manpower and vaccine shortages.
Bangladesh resumed its mass vaccination drive on 1 July through the doses of Sinopharm and Pfizer vaccines after a pause of over two months.
Multiple consignments of Sinopharm and Oxford vaccines reached Bangladesh from China and Japan over the last few weeks. However, experts had warned that maintaining a steady supply of vaccines might become a challenge for the authorities.
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