60m doses on way from China buoy Dhaka

DHAKA－Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Wednesday her government expects to receive 60 million doses of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines in the next three months.

She made the remark in response to a tabled question from a lawmaker during the prime minister's question-and-answer session in parliament.

"A total of 60 million vaccines doses－20 million doses each month－will be available in the country from China till December from next month," she said in citing a schedule given by Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm.

Hasina said more than 44.4 million vaccine jabs have been secured so far through bilateral arrangements and initiatives under COVAX.

She said the plan is to vaccinate 80 percent of Bangladesh's population, including students aged 12 and above, under the vaccination coverage.

The prime minister also mentioned that physically challenged people will also be included under the vaccination coverage.

The minimum age for vaccinations has been reduced to 18 and "steps are underway to bring all students aged 12 years and above under vaccination coverage".

Hasina's government is trying to secure at least 10 million or more doses of vaccines every month to keep ongoing vaccination drives up and running.

Also on Wednesday, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said the government expects to have 240 million vaccine doses by April next year under the COVAX facility as donations and from other sources.

With China's continued support, Bangladesh's vaccination drive is now running smoothly in its capital Dhaka and elsewhere.

Alarming spike

To fight against the alarming spike in COVID-19 cases, Bangladesh has signed an agreement on the coproduction of Chinese vaccines.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by Sinopharm, Bangladesh's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and local vaccine manufacturing company Incepta Vaccine last month.

Bangladesh began the COVID-19 vaccination drive in January.

Amid uncertainty over the timely arrival of vaccine shipments from India, the Bangladeshi government later halted administering the first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

In June, the vaccination drive resumed in some parts of the country with the China-donated Sinopharm vaccine.

Elsewhere, Jamaica expects to receive doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine before the end of the year, according to its Chief Medical Officer Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie.

Speaking during a virtual event on the pandemic hosted by the Health and Wellness Ministry late last week, Bisasor-McKenzie said the Sinopharm vaccine should be among the approximately 1 million doses of vaccines expected by November.

"Our supply chain, therefore, is pretty good for the rest of the year,"Bisasor-McKenzie was quoted by local website Loop News as saying.

Members of the Chinese community in Jamaica made calls earlier this year for the use of the Sinopharm vaccine, which has already been administered to citizens in several other Caribbean countries, the news website reported.

Xinhua