2 million more doses of Covid-19 vaccine arrive from India

Bangladesh received two million doses of Covid-19 vaccine from India on the early hours of Tuesday.

With the second consignment Bangladesh has acquired a total of nine million doses of the vaccine till now. Chief Health Officer at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Dr Shahriar Sajjad confirmed the matter.

The special flight carrying the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine the Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 12:25am on Tuesday.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals received the shipment and took them to their Gazipur warehouse.

Till yesterday, the country has vaccinated 2,308,157 people among whom 139,780 are men and 85,500 are women.

On Monday alone 225,280 people were vaccinated across the country. Of them 31 people had an adverse effects, taking the tally to 609.

The newly received vaccines will be in stock for now, the health authorities have said.

They are planning to vaccinate some six million people during the first month of the nationwide drive, said Prof Dr ABM Khurshid Alam, director general (DG) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). “So, right now there is no need to use the new shipment immediately,” he added.

Bangladesh was supposed to receive five million vaccine doses each month for six consecutive months but the number has now decreased in the second month.

Bangladesh is receiving the second consignment in reduced volume as the CEO of Serum Institute said their supply for foreign governments may be delayed as it had been directed to prioritize India's requirements. However, Indian health authorities said that they have not given any such directions to the Serum Institute and other countries would get the vaccine eventually but in smaller consignments.