Bangladesh to get 21 lakh Covid vaccine doses by early May

Dhaka, Apr 25: Bangladesh will get 21 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the first week of May, said DG of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam on Sunday.“Most of these vaccine doses will be imported by Baximco Pharmaceuticals,” he told reporters following an online discussion meeting marking World Malaria Day.
Among the doses, one lakh are of COVAX while Serum Institute of India will supply the rest, Khurshid Alam said.
“We’ll continue administering the first doses of the vaccine alongside completing the second doses,” the DG said, adding, “We’ll also get vaccine/s from China as a gift. The Covid-19 National Technical Advisory Committee will take the decision on how those will be administered.”
He also told the journalists that three of the local pharmaceutical companies have the capacity to produce Covid-19 vaccines.
As the deadly variant of the virus is being spread rapidly across India, a proposal has been sent to the authorities concerned to stop all the communications with the neighbouring country, except the transportation of emergency goods, he said.