Bangladesh hopes to procure 11 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines from different sources by December enabling it to provide the jabs to over five crore people, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Saturday.

Speaking at Manikganj Maleque said that negotiations are at an advanced level to sign a vaccine agreement with Russia.

He also added that the country will also receive doses of the Moderna vaccine very soon.

Read: Bangladesh to get 2.5 mn doses of Moderna vaccine

The minister also stated that negotiations with the relevant stakeholders to manufacture vaccines in the country are going on in full swing.

"There will be a vaccine plant in Gopalganj soon," he said.

The minister did not hide his disappointment for not getting the desired number of vaccines from countries like India.

Read: Covid deaths in Bangladesh hits 14,000 with 77 fresh fatalities

“Although we signed an agreement to get 3 crore vaccine doses from India, we only received 1 crore doses ,” he said.

The government wants to rely more on vaccines instead of lockdown to stem the pandemic.

“Although enforcing lockdown is an effective method to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission, it comes with major economic repercussions. But enforcing a lockdown was the only way out as we don’t have enough vaccines yet,” the minister said.