China will gift the second batch of 600,000 doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to Bangladesh.
The announcement came Friday, just nine days after the arrival of the first batch of 500,000 doses as gift. China says the move fully reflects that it attaches great importance to the friendly relations between the two countries.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a phone conversation with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Friday to this end.
At the request of Bangladesh, it was announced that China would gift the second batch vaccine to Bangladesh.
China pays close attention to the latest situation of the epidemic in Bangladesh, the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka said.
At this critical time in Bangladesh’s fight against the epidemic, China is concerned about the urgent need for vaccine of its Bangladeshi friends and overcomes the huge demand for domestic and foreign orders and the shortage of vaccine supply, it said.
The arrival of the second batch vaccine will definitely help the Bangladeshi government and people build a strong line of defense against the epidemic, China said.
In the future, China is willing to provide necessary support for Bangladesh and South Asian countries to fight the epidemic, deepen anti-epidemic cooperation with Bangladesh, and effectively protect the health and life safety of the people of the two countries.
Bangladesh Reaches Out to Global Media
Foreign Minister Momen on Friday reached out to the global media to let the world know that Bangladesh looks for vaccines desperately and is ready to accept any shipment desperately from any country, including the United States.
"We need it desperately. If any shipment comes, we’ll take it right away," he told CNN in a live interview.
Momen said the big problem is that a large number of people in Bangladesh who took the first dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca could not take the second dose.
"Because we don't have any more. We can't give them the second dose. That’s creating a lot of problems for us," said the Foreign Minister.
He said the government of Bangladesh is trying to get vaccines from other places and they were delighted when Bangladesh heard that the US will be distributing some of the AstraZeneca vaccines that they have.
Momen said he had requested the US government and sent a letter to his counterpart US Secretary of State. "They agreed to give us."
Now the problem is, he said, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking a long time to approve the export of AstraZeneca.
Momen said they are thankful to US President Joe Biden for announcing that the USA will be distributing some of the Astrazeneca vaccine doses to developing countries, pretty large numbers - 60 million plus 20 around - 80 million doses. "This is good news for us."
Exploring Multiple Options
On Thursday, Momen said the government is giving its best efforts to get vaccines connecting multiple countries - the United States, China, Canada, Russia and the UK apart from its continuous request to India to meet Bangladesh's urgent needs.
He said the discussion with China is almost at the final stage while they are expecting a positive reply from the US on the vaccine front.
While talking to reporters at State guesthouse Padma, Momen said there are people who could not take the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine due to short supply from India.
He also highlighted the ongoing discussion with Russia. "Hope, everything will be settled within a week."
Responding to a question, the Foreign Minister said they came to know unofficially that Bangladesh is not in the priority list of the USA as there is a lesser number of deaths in Bangladesh.
