Bangladesh to get 10 lakh AstraZeneca vaccines under COVAX by August: health minister

Health Minister Zahid Maleque. File photo

Bangladesh will receive 10 lakh doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine by August under the global arrangement COVAX, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said today.

The minister came up with the information during a press briefing at the Secretariat around noon today, Maidul Islam, public relations officer at the health ministry, confirmed to The Daily Star.

“We will get 1,000,000 shots of Covid-19 vaccine in August from COVAX. We have received a letter in this regard from the World Health Organization,” PRO Maidul quoted the minister as saying.

The minister did not provide further details, he said.

Regarding vaccines from Russia and China, the minister told media that China is yet to respond on the issue and he hoped they will inform by this month, Maidul added.

Meanwhile, the discussion with Russia is on, Maleque said.

Replying to a question, he said that they could not get any update about the vaccines from Serum Institute but talks are going on.

Daily Star