India to gift Bangladesh 12 lakh doses of vaccines

Bangladesh will receive 12 lakh doses of vaccines as a gift from the Indian government.

A special flight from India’s Mumbai carrying the vaccines is expected to land at the capital’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on March 26.

Expanded Program of Immunization director Shamsul Haque confirmed the matter to New Age.

The vaccine doses are of Oxford-AstraZeneca developed vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India, he said.

Earlier, India gifted 20 lakh doses of the same vaccine to Bangladesh in January.

Directorate General of Health Services director general ABM Khurshid Alam told reporters that the government may suspend the inoculation of first dose of vaccination as the Indian government has slapped ban on the export of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.

He said the local distributor Beximco was yet to communicate with the government about the supply.

Bangladesh has a purchase deal with Serum and Beximco to get three crore doses of vaccines by June this year.

So far Serum provided 70 lakh doses in two shipments in January and February.

Bangladesh began mass vaccination against COVID-19 on February 7.

New Age