Bangladesh wants 4-5 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine from China

Bangladesh wants four to five crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine from China, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said today.

A discussion is on with China in this regard, the minister said at a programme at State Guest House Padma in Dhaka while giving away health equipment to Nepal.

"We have sent a letter of interest to China for vaccines and they have already sent non-disclosure document. We will scrutinise this. And then an agreement will be signed," he said.

"Discussion is going on with China on two issues – buying the vaccine directly and producing it here," Zahed Maleque said.

The minister said, "We have proposed to give us the vaccine from June-July. We will get the vaccine gradually as per their approval and they (China) have agreed to give some vaccines from June-July."

Yesterday, the Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh said that the vaccine from China is arriving late in the country as Bangladesh did not give approval earlier.

When asked about it, Foreign Minister AKM Abdul Momen said, "Our health experts were not interested as it had no approval from the World Health Organization. Considering people's interest, we then did not allow it. Three to four days ago, the Chinese vaccine secured permission from WHO."

The minister also informed that five lakh doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine will reach Bangladesh tomorrow.

"We have urged them to supply the vaccines as soon as possible and they assured us of it. We also hope that we will get Covid-19 vaccines from the country from June-July gradually," he said.

About the agreement with Russia, he said, "They have an agreement paper related to the purchase, so we have sent that paper after scrutinising. Now we are waiting for their opinion."

"Already we have signed a non-disclosure deal and after that we will start the discussion about joint collection and production of the vaccines.