Bangladesh is not on the US list of vaccine recipients, as the Covid -19 situation in the South Asian nation is better than many other countries, Foreign Minister Dr A K Abdul Momen said on Tuesday.
"The US has made a list of around 30 countries, which will get their vaccine; but we are not on the list," the minister told newsmen.
"We have so far managed the pandemic situation in an efficient manner under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina," he added.
The US has decided to distribute its unused stock of 80 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to other countries.
The US officials said Bangladesh's Covid situation is far better than other countries. Bangladesh has sought AstraZeneca vaccines from the USA.
However, the minister said the government is trying to pursue the US administration to provide at least 15 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to ensure second dose vaccination of the people, who already received the first dose.
He said the agreement with China for vaccine procurement is almost finalised, and under the agreement Bangladesh is expecting vaccine supply from June or July.
"We will also finalise vaccine procurement deal with Russia very soon. We are now working on some nitty-gritty of the draft agreement," Dr Momen said responding to a question.
As the transmission rate is on the rise in the country's border areas, the authorities concerned would soon take some measures to prevent it, he added.
It may be mentioned that last week both the health minister and foreign minister said that Bangladesh planned to procure 30 million vaccines from China.
Responding to a question during the vaccine handover ceremony by the Chinese Embassy recently health minister Zahid Maleque told the newsmen that if necessary the country would purchase more than 30 million vaccines.
Foreign minister Dr Momen on Saturday said that Chinese foreign minister assured him that there would not be any disruption in Chinese vaccine supply.
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