Vaccine gifted by India arrives in Bangladesh
Covid-19 in Bangladesh
The consignment of 20 lakh doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, gifted by India, has finally arrived in Dhaka.
The vaccine shots arrived at Dhaka Airport by air cargo around 11:20am, Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, director of the airport confirmed to The Business Standard.
Earlier, the consignment took off from Mumbai Airport for Bangladesh in the morning.
A facebook post of Ministry of External Affairs of India confirmed the matter.
Besides, Bangladesh is bringing 3 crore shots of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India's Serum Institute.
Beximco Pharmaceuticals had inked a deal with the Indian institute in this regard last November.
Bangladesh plans to start countrywide vaccination from 8 February after a week's trial run.
Twenty lakh doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine – gifted by India – will arrive in Bangladesh today and the government will kick off the trial on 27 or 28 January at Kurmitola Hospital by giving the shot to 20-25 frontline workers, Health Secretary Md Abdul Mannan told the media on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will join the inaugural function virtually.
Another 400-500 health workers will be vaccinated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Kurmitola General Hospital, Mugda General Hospital, and Kuwait-Bangladesh Friendship Hospital the next day.
In the meantime, the first shipment of 50 lakh doses purchased from the Serum Institute of India will also have arrived on 25 January.
After observing the vaccinated people for a week, the nationwide vaccine drive is likely to begin on 8 February.
However, the government has not yet prepared any list of 1.5 crore priority recipients for the jab.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Tuesday sent a letter to the agencies concerned, asking them to prepare a list of eligible people of different strata to be vaccinated in the first phase by Thursday.
Bangladesh purchased 3 crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from the Serum Institute of India.
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