Bangladesh will receive three crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines on time from India as per a recently signed tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Serum Institute of India (SII), said Beximco Pharmaceuticals, the local partner of SII.
Rabbur Reza, chief operating officer (COO) of Beximco Pharma, confirmed the matter to the media on Monday on the back of news of a several month-long-ban from India's part on the export of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.
"According to what we understand, that statement of the export ban was generalised. We believe we are on the priority list and will receive the vaccines on time," he said.
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.
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.
