Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami has said India can't get immunity alone without immunity in its closest friendly countries -- Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
"We believe that India and Bangladesh must progress together and so, even in the time of this crisis, we have wanted to work as closely as possible with our closest neighbours, particularly Bangladesh," he told reporters after a short event, marking India's 72nd Republic Day at Indian High Commission in the capital on Tuesday.
He said Bangladesh is one of the first countries where India sent vaccines.
"India wanted to ensure that Bangladesh's roll out of vaccine delivery would be as fast as possible. We supply vaccine to Bangladesh first despite the fact is there is considerable demand, there are demands from other countries, as different companies are procuring vaccines from India," Doraiswami said.
High Commissioner Doraiswami read out message of President of India Ram Nath Kovind.
He hoped that the roll-out of vaccination in Bangladesh would be as fast as possible as he quoted World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying no one can be immune alone from this disease.
India gifted 20 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine, developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. Beximco Pharmaceuticals brought 50 lakh more, the first consignment of the contracted three crore doses of the vaccine.
"None of us can be immune alone from this disease as the WHO DG was saying either everybody is immune or nobody is immune," he said.
Asked if India is also planning to send the vaccine produced by the Indian company Bharat Biotech, Doraiswami said it is subject to clearance from Bangladesh government.
"We have been working on that for some time. Bharat Biotech vaccine is also here for trials in Bangladesh and we await clearance from your government to allow us trials first. We said we will do trials in Bangladesh and on the basis of data and regulatory approval, we will see," he said.
"But, that is of course your government's decision. We are ready to do anything in Bangladesh�anything that you want," he added.
On resuming India's tourist visas, the Indian envoy said they will open it "hopefully soon".
The Indian health department is now cautious because of the new mutation in coronavirus that came out in December -- a fact that is further delaying the decision of opening tourist visas. Presently, under air bubble agreement, two countries operate limited flights for patients, officials and emergency personnel.
a Bangladeshi tri-service contingent led India's Republic Day parade on the iconic Rajpath in the heart of the national capital on Tuesday.
The 122-member Bangladeshi armed forces contingent led the first 10 rows of India's 72nd Republic Day parade to commemorate 50 years of Bangladesh's independence.
The tri-service contingent, led by Lt Col Mohatsim Haider Chaudhury, comprised of the Bangladesh Army in the first six rows, followed by two rows of the Navy and two rows of the Air Force in the end.