Bangladesh is hopeful of receiving 55 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines from the Serum Institute of India and under a programme led by the World Health Organization (WHO) within June, 2021.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque disclosed the development to reporters on Sunday after visiting a laboratory set up by the Directorate General of Drug Administration to test medicines and vaccines, reports bdnews24.com.
The government has signed a deal with Serum for 30 million shots of the vaccine developed by the UK’s University of Oxford and drugmaker AstraZeneca with 5.0 million doses per month.
The global vaccine alliance GAVI has pledged to provide Bangladesh with about 68 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines to cover 20 per cent of the population under the WHO-led COVAX programme.
The minister said 25 million doses under the COVAX programme are expected to arrive by May or June.
Bangladesh has sent the purchase order to Serum, and the first batches of the Oxford vaccines will arrive at the end of January or early February immediately after AstraZeneca secures the WHO’s approval, he said.
The government will be able to give the shots to 2.5 million people in a month, which means it will take about a year to give 55 million doses, according to Zahid.
He said the government has ensured a cold chain to transport and store the shots.
The DGDA lab, which examines nine vaccines of other diseases, will also test the jabs against coronavirus.
It was approved by the WHO in March to test the standards of medicines, Zahid said.