Dhaka receives 10 lakh AstraZeneca shots from Serum

Bangladesh – after 6 months of supply suspension – has received 10 lakh doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India under a commercial agreement.

Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) officials said the shots arrived at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 5:30pm on Saturday. Health Service Director and spokesperson Shamsul Haque mentioned that a plan to administer the doses will be set soon.

Bangladesh’s Beximco Pharmaceuticals had made a procurement deal with the Serum Institute of India in December last year, to get three crore doses of the vaccine by June 2021.

Serum provided 70 lakh doses in two shipments in January and February, 30 lakh short of the initial promise for supplying 50 lakh doses every month. Bangladesh had also received 3.2 million doses of the vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift.

The Indian government suspended vaccine exports in April this year due to a second wave of Covid-19 causing a huge spike in infections and fatalities in the neighbouring country.