China is sending another 6,00,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine to Bangladesh as gift by June 13, a senior Chinese official stationed in Dhaka has said.
Hualong Yan, the minister counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh unveiled the information on his Facebook profile.
In April, Bangladesh joined the China-led initiative for Covid vaccine and oxygen. China had sent 5,00,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine to Bangladesh as gift on May 12.
Last month, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that Bangladesh would buy 15 million doses of Sinopharm.
Bangladesh inked a deal with Serum Institute of India last year for 30 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Five million doses were scheduled to be delivered each month between January and June this year. But only seven million doses arrived.
Serum stopped providing vaccine when the Indian government imposed an embargo on its export.
Bangladesh launched its countrywide inoculation drive on February 7 but Serum’s decision to stop vaccine export forced the South Asian country to suspend giving out the first dose since April 26.
Currently, registration for the vaccine is also suspended. So far, 58,20,015 people have received the first dose while 43,03,146 got their second jab.
The government is exploring alternative sources for vaccine. Bangladeshi regulators have approved the emergency use of Pfizer, Russian Sputnik, and Chinese Sinopharm vaccines in recent weeks.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year. The first death was reported on March 18, 2020.
The health authorities have confirmed 8,09,314 cases but 7,49,425 of them (92.6 per cent) have recovered. The country has so far reported 12,801 covid-related deaths.
