Bangladesh: Export lock in India halts vaccine campaign

DHAKA, Bangladesh

Bangladesh suspended the registration process of the coronavirus vaccine campaign because of a dose shortage and vaccine shipment lock in India, officials confirmed to Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

Dhaka suspended the first doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine's administration on April 26 amid a low supply.

“We suspended the vaccine registration from Wednesday due to the shortage of vaccine in stock. Fresh registration will remain closed until we avail fresh shipment from India or any other sources,” Directorate-General of Health Services (DGHS) official Dr. Robed Amin told the Turkish news agency.

He said there is no development in the shipment of vaccines from India under a tripartite agreement. But Bangladesh is hopeful to receive 500,000 vaccines from China by May 12.

The South Asian country has an agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for 30 million doses – 5 million jabs every month from January to June. It has paid for 15 million jabs but received only 7 million. New Delhi has also gifted 3 million doses to Dhaka.

Bangladesh is working to secure alternative sources of the COVID-19 vaccine and local production of it, he said, adding that the process is underway to avail Russia's Sputnik V vaccine and the clearance for procuring it has been sent to authorities for approval.

According to DGHS, there are only 1.4 million doses remaining in stock while Bangladesh has inoculated 8.8 million people, with 5.8 million receiving their first dose.

A total of 767,338 infections and 11,755 deaths were reported as of Wednesday.