Bangladesh receives 1M COVID-19 jabs from India after 7 months

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh on Saturday received one million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine under a commercial purchase from India after its shipment was suspended for seven months, authorities confirmed.

Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) spokesman Shamsul Haque told Anadolu Agency that the consignment arrived in the capital Dhaka to be handed over to Health Ministry authorities by Beximco Pharmaceuticals, the local distributor of the Serum Institute of India (SII).

Bangladesh has so far received 8 million doses of the jab, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, under a tripartite contract with the SII, which manufactures it in India. New Delhi had separately sent another 3 million doses to Dhaka as a gift.

However, Bangladesh had signed a deal with India to purchase a total 30 million doses -- five million doses per month for six months.

India had suspended shipments in late February as it grappled with a fresh wave of COVID-19 at home, despite Bangladesh having paid for about 15 million vaccines in advance.

Bangladesh has remained one of the least-vaccinated countries South Asian, ranking only above Afghanistan, the World Bank has recently said.

The country has inoculated 14.1 doses per 100 people as of September, the data showed.

Bangladesh so far registered a total of 27,674 coronavirus-related deaths, while the caseload in the country has risen to 1,561,878, according to the DGHS on Saturday.