Bangladesh has sought the Covid-19 vaccines from the UK after a crisis of vaccines appears in the country said foreign minister AK Abdul Momen to the UK’s ITV during an interview.
India has stopped the export of Oxford-AstraZeneca developed vaccines because of spike in Covid-19 infections. As a result, Bangladesh is not getting the vaccines manufactured by Serum Institute of India for now.
Amid this circumstance, the foreign minister talked to the ITV. Describing the country’s vaccine situation as a "crisis", he said, "We are desperate (to get the vaccine)."
Abdul Momen said "India is facing a very critical situation, very alarming… we can understand it. So they are failing to distribute the vaccine they promised to send us."
According to the ITV report, Bangladesh vaccinated 1.6 million people with AstraZeneca jabs and they need to be administered a second dose within the recommended 12-week window. Since Serum hasn’t been supplying the vaccine, Bangladesh becomes unable to administer the second dose to these people.
Abdul Momen said the Bangladesh government appealed directly to the UK government for 1.6 million doses. But the UK government rejected the request saying that they don’t have the capacity to manufacture the vaccines.
However, the foreign minister argued, "We have a belief that if the [UK] government tries, they can do it, because they have the capacity."
He added, "My message to UK government is they should be more sincere. They should help their Commonwealth member states. Bangladesh is a good friend of UK… and so many Bangladeshis contribute to the UK… so the UK should come forward,” he said.
Abdul Momen said, "I’m not asking for too much, I’m only asking for 1.6 million AstraZeneca doses that they (UK) have, they should immediately disperse those to Bangladesh so these people can have their second dose."