5 million Sinopharm vaccine doses arrive in Dhaka

Around 5 million more doses of the Sinopharm vaccine arrived in Dhaka from China in the early hours of Thursday, reports UNB.

A regular flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines landed at Shahjalal International Airport with the vaccine consignment around 2:00am, said Maidul Islam Prodhan, senior information officer (Health).

Chief health coordinator Abu Jaher received the vaccine consignment at the airport, he added.

The vaccine doses are, in fact, part of the commercial purchase from China.

On 18 September, Bangladesh received some 5 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine. Besides, 5.4 million doses of the Chinese Covid vaccine arrived in Bangladesh on 11 September.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina recently told Parliament that the government had made arrangements to get more than 10 million Covid-19 jabs every month.

According to the schedule received from the company producing Sinopharm, 20 million shots will be available every month from October and 60 million from December, she had said.

On 16 August, Bangladesh, China and Incepta Vaccine Limited signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the co-production of the Sinopharm vaccine in Bangladesh.