Foreign Minister Abdul Momen stated that Bangladesh seeks to acquire 40 to 50 million doses of the Chinese vaccine on a business foundation.
Bangladesh on Wednesday obtained 5,00,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine as a present to proceed its vaccination drive, which was halted resulting from scarcity of India-made Astrazeneca jabs.
Chinese Ambassador Li Jiming handed over the vaccines to Foreign Minister Dr. A.Ok. Abdul Momen and Health Minister Zahid Maleque at State Guest House Padma, hours after a Bangladesh plane landed in Dhaka carrying the vaccines from China.
Mr. Momen stated that Bangladesh seeks to acquire 40 to 50 million doses of the Chinese vaccine on a business foundation.
He proposed co-production association of the Chinese vaccine in Bangladesh, saying it might create a “win-win” state of affairs for each the international locations.
“We have the capacity to produce the vaccine and we can do it with their (Chinese) help . . . if they agree we can go for co-production,” he stated.
Mr. Maleque stated that his workplace has despatched a letter of curiosity to China to purchase the vaccine on a business foundation.
Chinese envoy Li stated the present was the manifestation of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation, which once more reveals that “our people are in the same boat and we will stand with each other till the end of this battle”.
The improvement got here after the World Health Organization (WHO) listed the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use, giving inexperienced mild for this vaccine to be rolled out globally.
According to Mr. Momen, Bangladesh was initially reluctant to obtain the Chinese vaccine till it obtained the WHO nod however the second wave of the pandemic compelled the nation’s well being authorities earlier this month to approve the Chinese jabs alongside Russia’s Sputnik vaccine.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) stated they might begin the method of administering the Sinopharm vaccine amongst those that obtained registered for the primary dose.
Bangladesh launched the nationwide vaccination marketing campaign on February 7 with the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India.
India supplied 3.2 million doses of the vaccine to Bangladesh as a present.
However, the registration for the vaccination was halted on May 5 in view of scarcity of the vaccine.
Bangladesh bought 30 million doses of the vaccine and below an settlement obtained seven million doses in two consignments till February, whereas the third consignment, which was anticipated in March, is but to reach, forcing the nation to search for different options to vaccinate its inhabitants.
The Chinese vaccines arrived within the nation because the ties between the 2 international locations apparently witnessed a sudden pressure with China warning Bangladesh towards becoming a member of the Quad alliance, saying that Dhaka’s participation within the anti-Beijing “club” would lead to “substantial damage” to bilateral relations.
The Chinese envoy made the remarks which instantly drew a pointy response from Bangladesh’s international minister who known as it “very unfortunate” and “aggressive”, including that he by no means heard such feedback from any Chinese diplomat earlier than.
Initiated in 2007, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, Quad for brief, is a casual grouping of the U.S., India, Australia and Japan.