Dhaka makes good vaccine lineup: Momen

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has already made a good lineup of getting more COVID-19 vaccines from different sources under COVAX along with commercial purchase to ensure steady supply of jabs for the countrymen.

“Now we are in a good position. There won’t be any shortage of vaccine ahead. We have made a line up (to get enough vaccine),” he said while talking to a small group of reporters at his residence here today.

The foreign minister said Dhaka is likely to get 2.5 million doses of COVID vaccine from Japan and 1 million from the European Union (EU) under COVAX framework by this month.

However, the minister said the exact number of doses is not yet fixed but Dhaka is expecting to get this volume of vaccine doses by this month. “These are likely to be AstraZeneca vaccine,” he added.

Mentioning that Bangladesh recently got 2.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine doses from the US under the COVAX facility, he said Washington DC informed Dhaka that the US would send more jabs here.

COVAX, a global alliance, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Momen also said Dhaka is actively engaged to purchase adequate COVID vaccines from China and Russia.  “We are on right track,” he added.

The two million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine that Bangladesh government purchased from China have already arrived, the foreign minister said, adding discussions on purchasing more inoculations from Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac has been going on.

Replying a query about supply resumption of Indian vaccine, Momen said New Delhi never said that they would not give vaccine to Bangladesh.

He hope that Dhaka would get rest of the purchased Indian vaccine when COVID situation improves in the neighboring country.

On July 2 and 3, in different shipments, Bangladesh got 2.5 million doses Moderna COVID 19 vaccine as US gift under the COVAX framework and 2 million dioses of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine those Dhaka purchased from Beijing.     

On June 29, the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) approved Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of Covid-19 Moderna vaccine in the country.  

Bangladesh has so far approved eight COVID-19 vaccines to control the deadly disease.

The approved COVID-19 vaccines are from Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, CoronaVac, Pfizer, Covishield, Sputnik V, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm.     

As many as 72,48,829 people have so far been registered for receiving the inoculation.

On February 7, the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination campaign began with spontaneous participation of all levels of people for receiving vaccines from 1,055 designated hospitals.     

As of July 1, a total of 58,20,015 people received first shot of COVID-19 vaccines while 42,89,913 got second doses of inoculation.

Source: BSS