Bangladesh is going to receive over one million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine under the Covax initiative.
“We are getting 1 million 800 Astrazeneca vaccine (doses) soon under the Covax program,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said in a message on Friday afternoon.
However, he did not disclose when the shots would arrive in Bangladesh.
The one million and 800 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine has been allocated from the Covax supply, and Covax has not disclosed the source of these doses to Bangladesh, a Foreign Ministry official said.
Covax (Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access) is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
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Earlier on Tuesday, the foreign minister said Bangladesh had approached the US seeking two million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to meet the immediate demand.
On June 3, the White House announced plans to share 80 million doses of vaccines with Bangladesh and 16 other countries and territories by the end of the month, most of the shots under the Covax program.
Bangladesh started its nationwide Covid-19 vaccination program on February 7 by administering Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII).
The country received seven million Covishield doses through its contract. Besides, India gave Bangladesh 3.3 million vaccines as a gift.
On April 25, the government suspended administering the first dose of the Covishield, just a day after India said no more vaccine doses would be shipped to Bangladesh anytime soon.
As the SII could not be able to provide the doses of vaccine they promised, a good number of people are waiting for their second jabs.
Bangladesh needs at least 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine immediately, the foreign minister said.
