BD to get over 10 lakh shots of AZ vaccine: FM

Bangladesh will get one million 800 doses of much-demanded AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine under COVAX, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said on Friday.
"These doses have been allocated from COVAX supply," he told the media,  adding that COVAX programme has not mentioned the source of this AstraZeneca vaccine supply to Bangladesh.
The AstraZeneca vaccine
doses will arrive soon, Dr Momen said.adding that the COVAX has yet to mention the source country of this AstraZeneca vaccine supply to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has been desperately looking for AstraZeneca vaccines to inoculate 1.5 million people here who are awaiting for getting the second dose of the same vaccine."The AstraZeneca vaccine doses will arrive soon," Dr Momen said without elaborating.
Bangladesh Ambassador to the US conveyed the development to the Foreign Minister.
 Bangladesh earlier sought 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the US for addressing Bangladesh's immediate needs but the US is yet to reply to that particular request.
 Dr Momen said the US is only giving assurances, and he received a letter from the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday which he says is very good in a sense.
He, however, said the US did not mention how many vaccine doses they will provide to Bangladesh and when.
On Thursday, the foreign minister said Bangladesh then reached out to Washington DC in this regard while Bangladeshi diaspora community filed a petition to the White House, seeking the AstraZeneca vaccine doses.
Besides, negotiation has been going on between Bangladesh and China and Russia to bring adequate vaccines here as soon as possible while Momen said the government is hopeful to make a formal announcement soon on coproduction of COVID-19 vaccine here.
Earlier on several occasions, the foreign minister said Bangladesh wants to purchase 1.5 crore doses of Chinese vaccine and to import 5 million doses of Sputnik COVID vaccine from Russia and the health ministry is working on it.