The United Kingdom has donated 1 million more doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Bangladesh to fight off Covid-19.
The vaccine consignment arrived in Bangladesh on February 23, said the British High Commission in Dhaka on Wednesday.
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While welcoming the vaccines donation from the UK, British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson said, “We welcome the arrival of 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the UK to Bangladesh. This bilateral donation adds to the 4 million doses that the UK donated through COVAX last year.”
He said this support from the UK takes them one step ahead to defeat the pandemic and further strengthens their commitment to stand with the people of Bangladesh to recover faster and build a healthier and prosperous future.
The latest bilateral donation from the UK will reinforce Bangladesh’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic and the country’s economic recovery, the High Commission said.
Prior to this, the UK donated over 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Bangladesh in December 2021 through COVAX facilities.
Complementing the vaccine donations, the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), through its delivery partners, created an enabling environment for the Government of Bangladesh to accelerate and expand the vaccination program as well as reduce the transmission of the infection especially among the low-income people.
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This includes support for on-line vaccine registration for the disadvantaged, raising awareness, additional healthcare provider and technician support, training of health workers including vaccinators, and transporting vaccines to the districts as well as to the schools across the country.
Since the pandemic started, the UK government has reprioritised more than £55.9 million to fund Bangladesh’s National Preparedness and Response Plan to tackle COVID-19 including support for the Rohingya refugees and the host communities.