Bangladesh receives another COVID-19 vaccine consignment from China

DHAKA -- The sixth batch of gifted COVID-19 vaccines from the Chinese government to Bangladesh has arrived in Dhaka, the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh said on Saturday.

This new batch of Sinovac vaccines arrived on Thursday, after five batches of gifted Chinese vaccines which were delivered in May, June, August and October this year, the embassy said in a Facebook post.

In the fight against the coronavirus, China and Bangladesh have always been standing together, supporting and assisting each other in times of difficulties and challenges, said the embassy.

Both daily cases and deaths of COVID-19 have fallen significantly in Bangladesh in recent months as vaccinations increased thanks largely to the support from China.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) under the Ministry of Health, more than 95 million vaccine doses have so far been administered in Bangladesh, with a large part of them being Chinese vaccines.

Of them, 58.87 million people received at least the first dose while 36.19 million received both doses as of Saturday.

Bangladesh began the vaccine rollout with Indian supplies in January but later ran into supply shortages. In June, the vaccination drive resumed largely with Chinese Sinopharm vaccines.

Mushtuq Husain, adviser to the Bangladeshi Ministry of Health, has said that China's contribution was of immense help to Bangladesh in sustaining its mass inoculation drive and assuring lower mortality in any future wave.

"We appreciate all of China's great contribution to our effort against the pandemic and hope our friendly cooperation will continue for years to come," said the official.

Bangladesh reported 155 new COVID-19 cases and two more deaths on Saturday, taking the tally to 1,575,579 and the death toll to 27,975, the DGHS said.