Bangladesh will get 30 lakh more doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China this month,  Health and Family Planning Minister Zahid Maleque said on Saturday. The jabs are expected to arrive in Dhaka either on July 26 or 27, he told a meeting in Dhaka. Read: 20 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine to reach Dhaka tonight The meeting with the member hospitals and organizations of Bangladesh Private Medical College Association was held to discuss Covid-19 prevention, oxygen crisis, increasing hospital facilities and beds. “We are trying to bring everyone under the Covid-19 vaccination campaign. Already enough number of Covid-19 jabs has been received and more 30 lakh doses of Sinopharm will arrive,” he said. Maleque said 21 crore doses of vaccine have already been arranged from different sources. If these are available on time Bangladesh will be able to vaccinate 80% of its population, he said. The minister said 26 cold freezers are being brought from The World Health Organization (WHO) for vaccines that need to be stored in minus 70 degree Celsius. Read: Govt to purchase 15 mn Sinopharm vaccine doses at lower rate The government has directed to prioritize elders in rural areas in vaccination drives and to bring teachers, students and their family members above 18 years under the campaign, said Maleque.

Bangladeshis will get priority while international students are allowed to return to their educational institutions in China when the Covid-19 situation improves, Deputy Chief of Mission at Chinese Embassy in Dhaka Hualong Yan said Monday. He also said the Bangladeshi students at Chinese educational institutions will get priority in receiving the Chinese vaccine. Read Chinese firms working with Bangladeshi partners for vaccine co-production The diplomat was responding to a question during a seminar held virtually to mark the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Association of Bangladesh-China Alumni (ABCA) organised the seminar. Hualong said the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka remains engaged to facilitate the return of Bangladeshi students who have been studying at different universities in China. Read Cabinet body okays proposal to procure 1.5 crore Chinese Sinopharm vaccine He said no students from any country are being allowed to return to Chinese universities now, considering the Covid-19 situation. "Not just Bangladeshi students, students from India, the US and the UK are unable to return to China." Dr Syed Anwar Hossain, supernumerary Professor of Dhaka University, presented the keynote paper at the seminar; Brigadier General (retd) Dr M Sakhawat Hossain, the former Election Commissioner, joined as designated discussant. Read Covid vaccine: China to send additional 6 lakh doses as gift The meeting was presided over by Munshi Faiz Ahmad, former ambassador of Bangladesh to China and president of ABCA. AAM Muzahid, member secretary of ABCA, was also present. Munshi Faiz said the ruling party of China – CPC – has been playing an important role in strengthening Bangladesh-China ties. Read Govt approves proposal to import Sinofarm vaccine "The CPC is playing a significant role in the socio-economic development of China and beyond, and Bangladesh remains China's important friend," he added.

Chinese vaccine R&D companies are working with their Bangladesh counterparts for future vaccine co-production in Bangladesh, said Deputy Chief of Mission at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka Hualong Yan. China has so far provided vaccines to nearly 100 countries and will provide the first batch of 10 million doses of vaccines to COVAX, he said. Read: China to deliver 6 lakh doses of vaccine as gift by June 13 Chinese vaccines are the first batch of vaccines obtained by many developing countries, Yan said. China has carried out joint research and development and cooperative production with many developing countries, and supported relevant companies to cooperate with foreign parties in conducting the phase III clinical trials, he said. Read: Bangladesh begins administering 1st dose of Chinese vaccine Chinese vaccines, the safety and effectiveness of which is widely recognized, have gained a good reputation in the international community, Yan said.

The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Thursday gave final approval to a proposal of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry to procure 1.5 crore Chinese Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine. As per the approval, the Health Services Division of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry will procure a total of 15 million (1.5 crore) vaccine  in the next three months—June, July and August. Read: Process to procure vaccine from China at final stage: FM Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the Cabinet body meeting.  “Each month 5 million doses of vaccine will be imported from the Chinese firm”, Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division, told reporters while briefing on the outcomes of the cabinet body meeting. Earlier on May 19, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its “in principle approval” to a proposal of the Health Services Division to import Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine. Read: Bangladesh begins administering 1st dose of Chinese vaccine The CCEA also approved “in principle” procurement of Covid-19 vaccine from Russia in a meeting on April 28. But no specific proposal regarding the quantity and the cost of the Russian Sputnik-V is yet to come to the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase, which is responsible for giving the final approval.

Bangladesh on Tuesday began administering the first dose of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, marking a major turning point in its fight against Covid-19 pandemic. Health Minister Zahid Maleque inaugurated the inoculation programme at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. On May 12, Bangladesh received 5 lakh China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine doses, donated by the Chinese government. Since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, China and Bangladesh have been supporting and assisting each other in their fight against the pandemic. China has donated and is donating vaccine doses to 80 developing countries with urgent needs, and has provided support under COVAX for the emergency use of vaccines in developing countries. Also read: Process to procure vaccine from China at final stage: FM China has fulfilled its commitment to make the Covid-19 vaccine a global public good with practical actions, promoted the fair distribution of global vaccines and made China’s contribution to the realisation of vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries. China says it will continue to make joint efforts with Bangladesh to make positive contributions to Bangladesh’s endeavour of protecting human lives and fight to win the battle against the pandemic, and together to build an even closer community of shared future and health for mankind.

China is preparing a the second batch of 600,000 doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh. The announcement came Friday, just nine days after the arrival of the first batch of 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine as a gift. China says the move fully reflects that it attaches great importance to the friendly relations between the two countries. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a phone conversation with Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Friday to this end. Read Bangladesh, China, others call for avoiding vaccine nationalism At the request of Bangladesh, it was announced that China would handover the second batch of 600,0000 vaccine doses to Bangladesh. China pays close attention to the latest situation of the epidemic in Bangladesh, the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka said. At this critical time in Bangladesh’s fight against the epidemic, China is concerned about the urgent need for vaccinating its Bangladeshi friends, to help the  overcomes the huge demand for domestic and foreign orders and the shortage of vaccine supply, it said. The arrival of the second batch vaccine will definitely help the Bangladeshi government and people build a strong line of defense against the epidemic, China said. Also read: Govt approves proposal to import Sinofarm vaccine In the future, China is willing to provide necessary support for Bangladesh and South Asian countries to fight the epidemic, deepen anti-epidemic cooperation with Bangladesh, and effectively protect the health and security of their citizens. The Chinese Foreign Minister assured of providing all kinds of support to ensure continuation of "stable supply" of COVID vaccines to Bangladesh. Dr Momen requested his Chinese counterpart to take an initiative for coproduction of vaccines in Bangladesh. The Chinese Foreign Minister said they will encourage the Chinese companies to go for coproduction of vaccines with Bangladesh. Read WHO team working with Chinese vaccine producers ahead of potential emergency use: WHO director-general He said China keeps up its support with Malaysia, Turkey, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates on vaccine coproduction.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a proposal of the Health Service Division to import Sinofarm Covid-19 vaccine. Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division, disclosed this while briefing reporters after a meeting of the committee.  She, however, did not provide any detail about the price of the Chinese vaccine and its quantity. “It’s just an approval made in principle. Details of the proposal will be known when it’ll come again for approval of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.”  Dr Shahida said the proposal was instantly placed on the table during the virtual meeting. She said the CCEA approved another proposal of the Health Service Division to import 40 Oxygen generators to be used for the treatment of Covid patients. Also read: Dhaka requests Delhi to send vaccine to Bangladesh soon The Central Medicine Store Department (CMSD) will import the oxygen generators. Another proposal made by the Industries Ministry received approval of the CCEA to sign a contract for the import of 1.28 million metric tons of fertiliser from three countries for the fiscal year 2021-2022. Of the bulk fertiliser, 500,000 mt will be imported from Muntajar Qatar, 500,000 mt from Sabic of Saudi Arabia and 250,000 mt from Fertiglbe of the UAE. Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase (CCPP) approved nine proposals, including the import of LNG and awarding a contract for installing a 400MW power plant to a Chinese contractor. As per the proposal, state-owned Petrobangla will import 3.360 million MMBtu of (liquified natural gas) LNG from AOT Trading of Switzerland at a cost of Tk 340.62 crore -- $10.199 per unit. Also read: Bangladesh to get 106,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine on June 2: Health Ministry State-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will award an EPC contract to Chinese contractor SEPCO-III Electric Power Construction Company Ltd, at a cost of Tk 1,796.72 crore to set up a 400MW gas-fired power plant at Raozan Power Station in Chattogram. The plant will be installed replacing the existing one. A proposal of the Bangladesh Police received approval of the committee to award a contract Joint Venture of (1) Smart Technologies (BD) Ltd, Dhaka and (2) Digicon Technologies Ltd, Dhaka to introduce surveillance systems on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway. Under the contract, the contractor will set up CCTV monitoring systems and other infrastructure on the highway. Two other proposals of the Directorate General of Food (DGF) received approval of the CCPP. Also read: Bangladesh seeks at least 2 mln doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Canada The DGF will award a Tk 261.70 contract to the Joint Venture of (1) Beximco Computers Limited, Bangladesh, (2) Bangladesh Export Import Company Ltd. Bangladesh, (3) Tech Mahindra Ltd. India, and (4) Tech Valley Networks Ltd. Bangladesh to install software, set up data centres and monitoring systems at all the food storehouses across the country under the package No-GD-27 of the “Modern Food Storage Facilities (MFSP)” project. The DGF will award another contract of Tk 330.86 crore under the package No-W-21 of the same project to Joint Venture of (1) Confidence Infrastructure Limited, Bangladesh and (2) The GSI Group LLC, USA to set up a food steel silo for rice at Barisal. Payra Port Authority’s tender proposal to award a Tk 5,629.18 crore contract to Jan De Nul (JDN), a Belgium-based dredging company, to conduct capital dredging and maintenance at the Rabonabad channel of the Payra Port received approval of the committee. Another proposal of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) under the Shipping Ministry received approval of the CCPP to award a contract to Karnaphuli Ship Builders Ltd., to construct and supply four coastal passenger vessels at a cost of Tk 230.95 crore.

Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm has started delivering its vaccine doses to Bangladesh. The company has finished packing 500 thousand doses of the gifted vaccine, which are now heading towards Beijing Capital International Airport in a cold-chain container truck. Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming on Monday officially announced that 5 lakh doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine will reach Bangladesh on May 12 as a “special gift”. Also Read:  5 lakh doses of Chinese vaccine to arrive on May 12: Envoy  "It's the latest outcome of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation which again shows that our two peoples are in the same boat and we will stand with each other till the end of this battle," he said. The Ambassador made the announcement during an interaction with the members of Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) held virtually. DCAB President Pantho Rahaman and General Secretary AKM Moinuddin also spoke at the event. "China is dedicated to international vaccine cooperation," said the Chinese envoy, adding that the Sinopharm vaccine has already been recognised and used in over 50 countries and regions globally for quite some time. Also Read: Beijing wants Dhaka notto join Quad “This is a new vote of confidence in China’s vaccines cast by the world. The Bangladeshi government also gave emergency use authorisation to the vaccine a week prior to the WHO’s clearance, which I believe is a far-sighted decision. It shows the faith put in China by Bangladesh, and it will surely mean a lot to our future cooperation,” he said. According to clinical statistics provided by Sinopharm and the evaluation of the WHO, the efficacy rate of the vaccine is estimated to reach 79%, all age groups included. Ambassador Li said the vaccine is recommended for adults aged 18 and older, and WHO did not indicate any upper age limit for use as data suggests that the vaccine is likely to have a protective effect in elder persons. Read Bangladesh approves emergency use of Chinese Covid vaccine “It’s also the first vaccine carrying a vial monitor, a small sticker on the vaccine vials that changes colour with the exposure to heat, thus warning health professionals if any doses go bad,” he said. As the Covid-19 is still wreaking a havoc on people’s lives and disturbing social and economic activities in Bangladesh, the 500 thousand doses of vaccine are arriving just in time. It is the latest outcome of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation. The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally. Read Chinese drugmaker: Vaccine 79.3% effective in final tests The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG). Bangladesh has kept up its intensified efforts to get Oxford-AstraZeneca and China's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines from India, China and the United States. The Chinese Ambassador said China proposed providing the vaccine doses as a gift on February 3 and the government of Bangladesh took three months to approve it. Read Russian Vaccine Sputnik V: Things we should know to fight COVID-19 He said there is a high demand of Chinese vaccines and it will take time to get vaccines through commercial purchase. The Ambassador said Bangladesh proposed getting Chinese vaccines through commercial purchase on April 30 and Bangladesh could have got those much earlier if the decision had been taken timely.  He laid emphasis on quick and effective decisions by the government of Bangladesh on issues like vaccines. Read What does it feel like to get COVID-19 after taking the vaccine?

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday said the Chinese government is working to start delivering Covid-19 vaccine doses before Eid-ul-Fitr although a 5-day May Day holiday is underway in China. Seeing it as a sign of “special friendship” with Bangladesh, he said Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Li Jiming recently informed them that vaccine doses will start arriving here before Eid while Health Minister Zahid Maleque shared a more specific date -- May 10. “The Health Ministry will decide when and how many doses of the vaccine will arrive, and what will be the transportation system. They know when we’ll need it,” Dr Momen told UNB, adding that they just have helped the Health Ministry establish the network with both China and Russia as alternative sources of vaccines.   Read Bangladesh, China, others call for avoiding vaccine nationalism The Foreign Minister said everything is now closed in China due to the current holiday – the five-day May Day holiday. The holiday will end on May 5, he said.  “It takes some time as vaccines are produced based on orders,” Dr Momen said, adding that discussions with Russia and the United States are on to get vaccines. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday reaffirmed that the government will procure vaccines at any cost to protect people from coronavirus. “We are bringing more vaccines, no matter how much money is required; we will bring more vaccines." Also read: Vaccines to be procured at any expense, says PM Hasina China was supposed to give 5 lakh doses of vaccine as a gift apart from supplying vaccines through commercial purchase. Bangladesh has received 7 million of Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine doses produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) vaccines through its contract. Bangladesh also received 3.3 million doses of vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift. This is the largest amount sent from India to any country. The US has decided to share its entire stock of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines with the world once it clears federal safety reviews, the White House said, with as many as 60 million doses expected to be available for export in the coming months. Read Brazil’s Bolsonaro rejects Chinese vaccine against COVID-19 “We sought vaccines from the US as they’ve a stock of 60 million doses. We would definitely welcome it,” Dr Momen said. He said they came to know, not in any letter (formal channel) but publicly that the US identified India and Brazil as priority countries to supply vaccines. Dr Momen said the United States assured all concerned of making Covid-19 vaccines available for other countries, including in Bangladesh once they have surplus reaching the level of mass vaccination in the US. “I can assure you when we can reach the level of the critical mass vaccination and we’ve surplus, we’ll absolutely make vaccines available in whatever different ways,” said John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate told reporters during his recent visit to Bangladesh. Also read: Intensify efforts to procure vaccines for alternative sources: BNP Diplomacy in Digital Era The Foreign Minister said they are continuing their diplomatic activities using digital tools despite disruptions globally amid Covid pandemic.  “We’re continuously connecting with everyone,” he said, mentioning that webinars and WhatsApp emerged as frequent means of communication during Covid situation. Dr Momen, however, said in-person meetings and negotiations came down significantly due to the current situation. “But in-person meetings are good for better negotiations.” Read WHO team working with Chinese vaccine producers ahead of potential emergency use: WHO director-general

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday (April 28, 2021) approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.  “The cabinet body has approved in principle the Health Ministry’s proposal to facilitate the production of Russian and Chinese vaccines,” said Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division, while briefing reporters after the meeting. Also Read: Bangladesh approves emergency use of Russian Sputnik V vaccine She noted that the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russian and China through direct procurement method (DPM) which means the Health Ministry will not require to follow any competitive bidding princess. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the virtual meeting where the proposal was placed by the Health Ministry on an emergency basis.  Also Read: Will take 2 weeks to get vaccine from alternative sources  Dr Shahida Aktar said Russia’s Sputnik-V and China’s Sinopharm will be produced in Bangladesh using the facilities and logistics of different private pharmaceutical companies. “No name of any specific companies was discussed at the meeting. But it was agreed in principle that the Russian and Chinese authorities will examine facilities and then things will be settled about who will produce the vaccines,” he added. Read Covid-19: Mexico to join clinical trials of Russian vaccine The approval from the government’s top authority came within a day of the government’s move to produce Covid-19 vaccines from Russian and China after India imposed a ban on the export of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine by Serum Institute to Bangladesh.  Mustafa Kamal said though Bangladesh approved Russian and Chinese vaccines’ local production, it will continue to its drive to have vaccine doses from India.  Read Myanmar registers Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine “We didn’t give up the hope about getting vaccine jabs from India,” he told the reporters.