Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday said the government would hopefully be able to make a formal announcement soon on vaccine coproduction in Bangladesh, as there has been progress in the ongoing negotiation.
He, however, said it was up to the vaccine-manufacturing countries to choose local pharmaceutical companies for the vaccine coproduction in Bangladesh.
"They will come and see the [production] capacity after necessary inspection [of the local companies] and will provide coproduction facilities," Dr Momen told reporters at state guesthouse Padma.
He said there would be no vaccine crisis in the country once coproduction begins. "Hopefully, we will become the exporter of vaccines (after meeting domestic demand)."
Earlier, he attended a program where Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) leaders donated medicines to Palestine Ambassador to Bangladesh Yousef SY Ramadan.
Earlier on Wednesday, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming said a "very pragmatic" discussion was underway between Bangladesh and China on the procurement of Covid-19 vaccine doses to meet Bangladesh's needs.
Also Read- Chinese envoy: Pragmatic talks underway over vaccine procurement, coproduction
He also said there was a “very encouraging progress" between the two countries over coproduction of vaccines.
Asked about misunderstanding with China over price disclosure, Dr Momen said there was no problem anymore as Bangladesh acknowledged the unintentional mistake.
"There are many confidentialities in business and we – the government – is just a facilitator. We should abide by the laws," he said, adding that they are in a very good position in terms of discussions with China.
China will deliver the second consignment of vaccine doses for Bangladesh as a gift by June 13.
Dr Momen said Bangladesh would send two special flights to bring vaccine doses and other medical supplies.
Just nine days after the arrival of the first batch of 500,000 doses of gift vaccine in Bangladesh, China announced that it would send a second batch of vaccine doses as a gift to Bangladesh.
Responding to a question, Dr Momen said Bangladesh sought AstraZeneca vaccine doses from the US immediately to address the current needs.
"We told them there would be a problem if all who got the first dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine did not get their second dose timely," he said.
The foreign minister said Bangladesh had also reached the White House seeking vaccines. "We're hopeful."
Also Read- Momen: US to honour Bangladesh's request for AstraZeneca vaccine
Dr Momen, however, said he was going to the US to attend two important events – one on the Rohingya issue and the other on the 5th LDC Summit – at the United Nations.
He said he hoped that the US would honour Bangladesh by providing AstraZeneca vaccine doses, apart from other vaccines, saying Bangladesh sought two million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the US.
The US government told Bangladesh that they would give the vaccine doses, but they were yet to decide how many doses they would be able to provide to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh needs at least 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine immediately.
The US reportedly wants to give Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to Bangladesh.
On June 3, the White House announced its plan to share vaccines directly with Bangladesh as a part of a framework to provide 80 million vaccine doses globally by the end of the month.
This includes seven million doses destined for Asia.
