Bangladesh to receive 2m ‘gift’ vaccine doses from India Wednesday: official

Two million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to be sent by India as a gift to its next-door neighbour will arrive in Bangladesh on Wednesday, Director General of Health Services ABM Khurshid Alam has said.

Asked to explain how these doses will be distributed, Alam said, “I am yet to receive instructions on that. We will take steps according to directives provided by the ministry.”

Alam said they would proceed with a plan to begin vaccination campaigns in all districts at a time after receiving the first shipment of the imported doses from India.

Bangladesh purchased 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca from Serum Institute of India. The first shipment of imported doses -- five million – is expected to arrive in Dhaka by Jan 25.

“We will first inoculate some health workers and observe them. It will then begin in all districts a week later. This is our plan,” Alam said.

If things go according to plan, the vaccination programme will kick off in the first week of February. The online registration for vaccination will begin on Jan 26.

A meeting led by the prime minister’s principal secretary will be held on Tuesday to lay out the details of the vaccination programme. Everything will be finalised at the meeting, according to Alam.