Bangladesh
Oxford AstraZeneca Jab Another 1.3 million AstraZeneca jabs to arrive in the country from Japan by Wednesday
Dhaka, July 31: Another 1.3 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are coming in today, Saturday (July 31) and Wednesday (August 4), according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the Vaccine Deployment Committee of the DGHS, told the Bengali Tribune on Friday (July 30) that the vaccine will come from Japan via the COVAX facility.
"The 13 lakh [1.3 million] doses of vaccine will reach Dhaka in two shipments, i.e. tomorrow, Saturday and next Wednesday," he said.
According to the Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Health, a total of 7,81,320 doses of the vaccine will arrive in the country at 3:15 pm on Saturday (July 31) at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the second lot of AstraZeneca via Hong Kong Airlines. Health Minister Zahid Maleque, Secretary of the Health Services Department, Director General of the DGHS and other senior officials will be present at the airport to receive the vaccines.
It is to be noted that a total of 6,16,780 doses of the vaccine will arrive in the country in the third lot on August 4 at the same place and at the same time on a Hong Kong Airlines flight.
Earlier, on July 24, 2,45,200 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, donated by the Japanese government via the COVAX facility, arrived in Bangladesh. At that time, the Japanese ambassador said, about 28 lakh [2.8 million] more vaccines will come to Bangladesh from Japan in the next one month.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi had announced that 11 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be given to 15 countries via the COVAX facility. Bangladesh is on the list of countries that will receive these vaccines from Japan. According to the list, Bangladesh will get 29 lakh vaccines of Oxford-AstraZeneca. The first consignment came on Friday.
Bangladesh started its mass vaccination drive on February 7 with Covishield- the Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs produced and marketed by India's Serum Institute. However, as the coronavirus situation in India exacerbated, the country stopped vaccine exports, triggering a crisis in Bangladesh.
According to the Department of Health, of the 58,20,030 people who took the first dose of the vaccine, more than 14,00,000 people took the second dose. However, the DGHS has said that this time the vaccine gifted by the Japanese government will allay the doubts of those waiting for the second dose.
