Bangladesh seeks immediate delivery of 4 million Oxford-AstraZeneca doses from US

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today said the government has sought immediate delivery of 4 million Covid-19 vaccine doses from the United States.

The US will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries as they become available.

"We've sought immediate release of four million doses of vaccine (in a letter sent to the US)," he told reporters, adding that he, however, sought a total of 10 to 20 million doses of vaccine from the US.

Dr Momen said the government wants to continue the inoculation programme with vaccines from alternative sources. 

The Foreign Minister made the remarks after his meeting with US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl Miller at his office this morning.

He asked the US Ambassador whether they provided any vaccine to India. In reply, Ambassador Miller said they have provided no vaccine to India yet.

The Foreign Minister said the US government needs permission from the Food and Drug Administration to export vaccines which is a time-consuming process. "But we need it immediately." 

Bangladesh has received 7 million Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) through its contract. Bangladesh also received 3.3 million doses of vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift. This is the largest amount sent from India to any country.