Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh will buy 1.5 crore Sinopharm vaccines from China, and its first consignment is likely to arrive in Dhaka in June, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said on Tuesday.
“Discussions on buying vaccines from China are positive. The deal in this regard is almost final. It will be complete very soon,” he told reporters following a meeting with UN General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir at the Foreign Service Academy.
The development comes at a time when the country is seeing a sharp rise in deaths and new cases of Covid-19 today. Momen said Dhaka sought to buy 1.5 crore vaccines initially from China with 50 lakh vaccines each in the month of June, July and August.
All the three documents – on non-disclosure, letter of commitment and sales agreement – “smoothened out”, he said, adding “We believe it will be free flow of vaccine.”
Referring to his telephone conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi last week, he said the Chinese minister termed Bangladesh as a good friend and that they will ensure steady flow of vaccine.
He further said Bangladesh has also approved Emergency Use Authorisation for another Chinese vaccine of Sinovac. A Chinese team will also visit Bangladesh in a week or so to see feasibility of vaccine co-production, he noted.
Minister Momen said the discussion with Russia is also at the final stage. Now some nitty-gritty is being worked out by the health ministry.
“We will also get vaccine from COVAX. So, we think there will not be problem of vaccine supply in the coming days,” Momen said.
Bangladesh moved to buy vaccine from China and Russia after India halted vaccine export in March, after exporting 10.2 million of the total 30 million vaccines as agreed by the Serum Institute of India.
