Bangladesh to sign MoU with China on Aug 16 to jointly produce COVID-19 vaccine

In a bid to strengthen its COVID-19 vaccine campaign across the country, China is gearing up to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with neighbour Bangladesh for the co-production of COVID-19 vaccines. Earlier, the Minister-Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka said, "We shall soon be coming for vaccine co-producing,". A day ago, Yan Hualog, through a Facebook post, said that, as a gift to Bangladesh, 10 lakh Sinopharm vaccines from China were sent to Bangladeshi brothers and sisters from Tianjin International Airport. As a part of the UN's COVAX program, earlier, China had sent 1.7 million Chinese Sinopharam vaccines to Bangladesh. So far, Dhaka has received a total of 4 vaccine consignments from Beijing. While speaking to media people, Bangladesh Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said the country has not yet reached its vaccination target. The country needs 276 million vaccine doses to achieve its target of vaccinating over 138 million people.

China Bangladesh COVID-19 vaccine co-production

According to media reports, Chinese-based company Sinopharm and Bangladesh's Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd will join hands in the production of COVID-19 vaccines. Bangladesh is aiming to lower the price of the COVID-19 vaccine, making it cheaper for wider use. The media reports state that Dhaka-based pharmaceutical companies will purchase raw materials in large quantities from China and undertake bottling, labeling, and finishing of the vaccine locally to make it cheap and widely available. 

COVID-19 situation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the majorly COVID-19 affected countries in the world. According to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Bangladesh has recorded a total of 23,810 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, with as many as 197 cases of fatalities. The total number of COVID-19 cases has been tallied at 14,05,333. The reports also state that the country has administered both doses of vaccine to more than 5.22 million people. While 15.31 million people have received the first dose of the vaccine. Earlier, when Bangladesh was suffering from a severe COVID-19 crisis, India had extended help by gifting 1.2 million vaccine doses to Dhaka along with 109 well-equipped ambulances.

IMAGE: PTI/ANI