Bangladesh has not been notified officially about India’s decision of not exporting Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine for several months, nor does the Indian Foreign Ministry know anything regarding this ban, said Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Monday.
He said the Indian Foreign Ministry informed that they are not aware of the ban and will update on the matter after consulting with the authorities concerned. Dhaka contacted Delhi on Monday morning after knowing about this from news media.
The minister said Bangladesh is currently in touch with India for solving all the possible issues regarding this ban, adding that he is hopeful Bangladesh will receive the vaccine on time.
Bangladesh government on November 5 last signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd to collect a shipment of three crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca SARS-CoV-B2, AZD1222 vaccine.
On December 21, Health Minister Zahid Malique said he is hopeful that Bangladesh will receive another shipment of six crore Covid-19 vaccine doses by May-June of the next year, after getting the initial consignment of three crore doses which is expected to begin arriving by the end of January.
On Sunday, India’s drugs regulator gave an emergency authorisation for the vaccines developed by Oxford University and UK-based drugmaker AstraZeneca and another developed by the Indian company Bharat Biotech.
Drugs Controller General Dr Venugopal G Somani said that both vaccines will be administered in two dosages.
On the same day, the head of Serum Institute of India announced that India will not allow the export of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for several months.
