The United States has donated additional six million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh via COVAX.   These are the latest donations of Pfizer vaccines from the American people and bring the total U.S. government vaccine contribution to more than 45 million (4.5 crore) free doses, with millions more scheduled to arrive over the coming months. “With this latest wave of donations, the United States continues to work closely with Bangladesh to vaccinate as many people as possible and accelerate efforts to provide people in hard-to-reach areas of the country with life-saving vaccines,” said U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Helen LaFave on Tuesday. In addition to vaccine donations, the United States continues to work closely with Bangladesh to support the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign and strengthen the response to the pandemic.  The United States has provided training to over 7,000 healthcare providers on the proper management and administration of vaccines, along with support for cold-chain storage and transportation. READ: US donates another 10mn doses of Pfizer to Bangladesh To date, the United States has contributed over $121 million in COVID-related development and humanitarian assistance through USAID, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   The United States has donated $4 billion to support the worldwide COVAX effort, which includes support for ultra-cold chain storage, transportation, and safe handling of COVID-19 vaccines, making the United States the world’s largest donor for equitable global COVID-19 vaccine access.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said France declared 2 million doses Covid-19 for Bangladesh as donation. The announcement came after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and French Prime Minister Jean Castex, Dr Momen said.  Bangladesh will get around 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Saudi Arabia.  Also Read: Warm welcome to Hasina at French presidential palace "Our Ambassador in Riyadh has informed me that 1499270 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine will come from the King Salman Relief Fund," he said in a message from Paris. The vaccine doses will arrive in Dhaka over the next two to three days, Dr Momen said.  Meanwhile, he said, Poland will provide 3.3 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses free of cost to Bangladesh. Also Read: Be humane in building livable society for differently-abled people: FM These are expected to be shipped any day, Dr Momen said.  Poland donated these vaccine doses through the European Union (EU).

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has contributed digital equipment and other devices necessary to develop a smart classroom for unprivileged children through Obhizatrik Foundation Monday. To pull off this programme, Huawei has teamed up with Obhizatrik Foundation, an organisation working towards overcoming socio-economic challenges. Under this collaboration, Huawei has donated various items such as Huawei tabs, laptop, router; internet subscription for one year, students' dress, bags, stationeries, masks, and oxygen cylinders to Obhizatrik School.   Also read: APAC: Huawei to boost startup initiatives to build robust ecosystems The items were handed over to Ahmed Imtiaz Jami, the founder and president of Obhizatrik Foundation, at a ceremony held at Obhizatrik School today.  "Our recent initiative 'In Bangladesh, For Bangladesh – We are Here,' has been mapped out to reach those deprived kids. We believe, even if it is a small initiative, the continued effort will make a difference, and several small streams will converge into a vast ocean finally," Zhang Zhengjun, CEO of Huawei Technologies Bangladesh, said at the event. Read Huawei wants to empower ASEAN's green development  "Obhizatrik Foundation has been working with an unprivileged section of people for a long time. But during the pandemic, we were helpless because of the lack of resources and digital means necessary for online education. We also needed safety materials such as masks and oxygen cylinders to fight the pandemic. Huawei has stepped forward to help the unprivileged children, to close the digital gap and safeguard their health," said Jami. Read Huawei to invest $150 million in talent development  

A total of 21 countries and the United Nations Children's Fund have donated epidemic prevention and control supplies to China, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.