A joint statement by Adar C Poonawalla, owner and CEO of SII, and Shayan F Rahman, Principal of BPL, made the disclosure. It said BPL will be the exclusive distributor of SII manufactured Covid-19 vaccine in Bangladesh.

They described the agreement as a reflection of deep rooted friendship and cooperation between the two brotherly neighbouring countries and said it will go a long way in mitigating the health crisis both countries are facing due to the pandemic.

The investment amount will be treated as an advance and once the vaccine receives regulatory approvals, SII will include Bangladesh among countries who will be the first to receive an agreed quantity of this vaccine from SII on a priority basis.

Dependent on SII’s production capacity and earlier commitments to other countries, BPL’s investment amount and SII’s priority supply commitment will be determined.

Also read: Bangladesh to explore all options on Covid vaccine to find effective one: FS

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine (AZD1222) is an adenovirus vector-based vaccine, currently undergoing large scale phase III trials in Brazil, US, UK and India. The UK trials are well underway and have shown very encouraging results. It is expected to receive approval by the end of this year.

SII has already partnered with Oxford/AstraZeneca along with Gates Foundation and Gavi, to produce more than a billion doses of the vaccine for global supply.

BPL will also offer the Bangladesh government the opportunity to reserve certain quantities for priority supply at prices to be agreed between GOB and SII.

Also read: Bangladesh always a priority for India: Shringla on Covid vaccine

Coronavirus cases were first reported in China in December last year. In March, the WHO declared it a pandemic.

Currently, there have been 24,776,988 globally confirmed cases with 837,979 deaths, according to a tally by the Johns Hopkins University.

Meanwhile, the health authorities in Bangladesh have so for confirmed 4,206 coronavirus deaths and 308,925 cases.

Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: 32 more die, 2,131 new cases detected

The country has reported 198,863 recovered cases.