Bangladesh: Export secure India halts vaccine campaign

Bangladesh suspended the sign up procedure for the coronavirus vaccine plan because of a dose shortage and vaccine shipment secure India, officials confirmed to Anadolu Organization on Wednesday.

Dhaka suspended the first doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine's administration on April 26 amid a minimal supply.

“We suspended the vaccine registration from Wednesday as a result of shortage of vaccine in stock. Fresh registration will stay shut until we avail refreshing shipment from India or any different sources,” Directorate-General of Wellbeing Services (DGHS) official Dr. Robed Amin informed the Turkish news company.

He said there is absolutely no development in the shipment of vaccines from India under a good tripartite agreement. But Bangladesh is hopeful to get 500,000 vaccines from China by May 12.

The South Asian country comes with an agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for 30 million doses - 5 million jabs on a monthly basis from January to June. It has paid for 15 million jabs but received only 7 million. New Delhi in addition has gifted 3 million doses to Dhaka.

Bangladesh is attempting to secure alternative sources of the COVID-19 vaccine and local creation of it again, he said, adding that the procedure is underway to avail Russia's Sputnik V vaccine and the clearance for procuring it has been sent to authorities for approval.

Relating to DGHS, there are just 1.4 million doses staying in inventory while Bangladesh has inoculated 8.8 million persons, with 5.8 million acquiring their first dose.

A complete of 767,338 infections and 11,755 deaths were reported by Wednesday.