DHAKA, Sept 19 (NNN-BSS) – Bangladesh yesterday received another five million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, developed by China’s pharmaceutical Sinopharm Group.
A Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane, carrying the Chinese vaccine doses, landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, at around 2:00 a.m. local time yesterday, Health Ministry spokesman, Maidul Islam Prodhan, told reporters.
Abu Zaher, chief health coordinator at Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, received the consignment at the airport.
Earlier, on Sept 11, 5.4 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine arrived from China.
Bangladesh’s vaccination drive is now running smoothly in the capital, Dhaka and elsewhere, largely thanks to China’s continued vaccine support.
To fight the alarming spike in COVID-19 cases, Bangladesh has signed an agreement on the co-production of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine doses, locally.
Bangladesh began the COVID-19 vaccination drive in Jan, to contain the pandemic that has spread across the country.
The Bangladeshi government subsequently halted administering the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, after India banned vaccine exports.
In June, the vaccination drive resumed, in parts of the country, with the China-donated Sinopharm vaccine.
Bangladesh has so far received around 25 million Sinopharm vaccine doses from China.– NNN-BSS
