China’s Sinopharm will supply a total of 15.0 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh at a reduced price.
The Directorate General of Health Services will receive 13.0 million vaccine doses under a previous deal and an additional two million doses at a reduced price, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said at a virtual media briefing on Wednesday.
Kamal did not disclose the price of the Sinopharm vaccine, reports bdnews24.com.
A cabinet committee approved a plan to purchase more vaccines, if necessary.
“At this time, I can only say that, for various reasons, the price is lower now than the information previously released. These purchases are selective purchases and, for technical reasons, we can’t give you the details. We believe you will understand and agree,” he said.
Bangladesh initially signed an agreement to import 15 million doses and two million of them were presented to Bangladesh by China as a gift, said Shamsul Arefin, an additional secretary of the Cabinet Division.
“We have added an additional two million doses to our order to take the total to 15 million again. We will receive them at a reduced price.”
The Bangladesh government had previously stated that it was buying vaccines from China at $10 a dose.
Bangladesh started its mass vaccination campaign in February, using the COVISHIELD vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and Anglo-Swedish company AstraZeneca. But the programme was subsequently halted after India banned vaccine exports to tackle a growing COVID crisis within its own borders.