Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday urged all not to be worried about Covid-19 vaccine stock.
“We’ll have enough stock,” he told reporters following media reports that India halted vaccine supply to Bangladesh.
The foreign minister said they would be able to buy vaccines from China and Russia as well.
“China is giving us 6 lakh doses as a gift. We have also agreed to buy and go for co-production of Russian vaccine,” he said.
So far, Bangladesh is using the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine which is made in the Serum Institute of India.
Bangladesh has received 7 million doses through its contract with the Serum Institute. Besides, India gifted 3.3 million doses of vaccine.
The Indian High Commission in Dhaka on Thursday said this was the largest amount sent from India to any country.
“We have said we would do our best to meet everyone's needs, subject to limits of production, domestic demands, and other obligations. We will continue to do our best to support the vaccine rollout in our neighborhood countries, but it is important to bear in mind that there is a huge wave of the pandemic underway in India,” the High Commission said.
The foreign minister said the health ministers of Bangladesh and Russia have agreed in principle on the proposal of vaccine coproduction in Dhaka.
“We are on the same page. The health ministry will finalise the deal. We (foreign ministry) made the connection between the two health ministries,” he said.
A Managing Director of a leading pharmaceutical company told Bangladesh Post that Bangladesh has the ability to produce vaccines if Russia transfers the technology.
