US donates 1.78M Pfizer jabs to support vaccination in Bangladesh

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - The US has donated 1.78 million more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to Bangladesh in an effort to help the South Asian country expand its immunization drive to young people aged 12 and up, the US embassy in Dhaka announced on Sunday.

"With this shipment, the American people have now donated a total of 18.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Bangladesh," the embassy said a statement, adding that the jabs had been sent via COVAX, an international facility to boost vaccine equity.

US support to vaccination in Bangladesh also includes the training of nearly 7,000 healthcare professionals to safely administer vaccines, as well as donations of cold-chain freezer trucks where the vaccines are stored, and the provision of freezers and other equipment for health facilities to "properly store and transport COVID-19 vaccines across the country," it added.

"The United States will continue to donate millions more doses of Pfizer vaccines and stand together with Bangladesh in its aim to vaccinate 40% of the country's eligible population by the end of this year," US Ambassador Earl Robert Miller was quoted as saying in the statement.

The ongoing donations of Pfizer vaccines are part of a broader commitment by the US to lead the global COVID-19 response by providing 1 billion doses of the Pfizer vaccine around the world through 2022, it said.

- COVID booster campaign launched

Bangladesh on Sunday kicked off its booster shot campaign against the coronavirus after the approval of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to use Pfizer jabs as third vaccine doses amid fears of the spreading the omicron variant.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Health Minister Zahid Maleque, along with other top government officials, took COVID booster doses in a bid to inspire people to fight against the pandemic and its new variant, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Last week, two players of the Bangladeshi women's national cricket team tested positive for omicron.

Bangladesh has so far reported 28,047 COVID fatalities, while the caseload increased to 1.58 million, according to Health Ministry data.