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. Read: US donates another 10mn doses of Pfizer’s vaccine 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. Read: Dhaka calls for sharing technology, know-how of Covid-19 vaccine production 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.

India Thursday scripted history by hitting the milestone of one billion Covid-19 vaccinations in just nine months after it began its ambitious inoculation drive. India is the second country in the world to achieve the feat in such "a short period of time". China, however, touched the one billion mark of Covid vaccinations in June. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the milestone as "historic" and described it as "the triumph of Indian science, enterprise and collective spirit of 130 crore Indians". Read: FDA OKs mixing COVID vaccines; backs Moderna, J&J boosters "Congrats India on crossing 100 crore vaccinations. Gratitude to our doctors, nurses and all those who worked to achieve this feat," he said in the national capital. According to the Indian Health Ministry, around three-quarters of the country's adults have had one dose of a Covid vaccine while 30 percent are fully jabbed. And the government aims to get all the country's adults inoculated by this year-end. India took 85 days to touch the 10-crore vaccination mark, 45 more days to hit the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to reach the 30-crore mark, as per the Ministry data. The country took 24 days to reach the 40-crore mark and 20 more days to surpass the 50-crore vaccination mark on August 6. It then took 76 days to hit the 100-crore mark. "Congratulations India! This is the result of the leadership of our visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted. Read: Covid vaccine: India's Covaxin gets emergency use approval for kids aged 2-18 India's daily case count has also been dropping -- from less than 30,000 new daily cases in the past month to below 20,000 cases in the past 10 days. India rolled out the world's largest Covid vaccination drive on January 16, with Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield and state-owned Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. India also sent Covid jabs to neighbouring countries. And Bangladesh was the first to receive two million doses of Covishield as a gift from India.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has requested his Indian counterpart Dr S Jaishankar to ensure the supply of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Bangladesh as soon as possible to meet Bangladesh’s needs. He made the request during a conversation over phone with the Indian External Affairs Minister, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here. Bangladesh entered into a deal with the Serum Institute of India (SII) to purchase 30 million doses of a potential vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca for Covid-19. Bangladesh was supposed to get five million doses of vaccine per month as the SII and Bangladesh’s Beximco Pharma signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for priority delivery of the vaccine doses. Earlier, Bangladesh sought at least 3 million doses of vaccine under the agreement to address the immediate demand in Bangladesh. Also read: Bangladesh seeks immediate delivery of 4 mn vaccine doses from US: FM Bangladesh has so far received only 7 million of Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine doses produced by Serum Institute through its contract. Bangladesh also received 3.3 million doses of vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift. During the telephone conversation on Tuesday, Dr Jaishankar informed that he is aware of the demand for a second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in Bangladesh. Dr Momen said Bangladesh has requested the United States to supply vaccines urgently since India could not supply vaccines to Bangladesh timely. Dr Jaishankar assured Dr Momen of requesting the US to give the vaccine to Bangladesh as the Bangladesh Foreign Minister raised the issue with his Indian counterpart. Dr Momen conveyed condolences over the deaths in India due to Covid-19 and conveyed sympathy to the bereaved families. Meanwhile, a total of 1014 Bangladeshi-American professional doctors, engineers, professors and others, led by Dr AFM Haque, have submitted a plea to the White House requesting the US Administration to send the vaccine to Bangladesh. Also read: Deal with Russia soon over Covid vaccine: Health Minister On the other hand, the US branch of Bangabandhu Foundation, Muktijoddha Council and Sheikh Rahman, Member of the Georgia State Senate also requested the White House to give vaccine doses to Bangladesh. Expatriates Bangladeshis in the USA came to know that Bangladesh is not in the priority list of the US due to the low rate of infection and deaths in Bangladesh.                               

India on Thursday extended the gap between the first and second doses of the Serum Institute-produced Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield to 12-16 weeks from the existing six-eight weeks, amid a huge surge in corona cases and an acute shortage of jabs. Covishield is also being used in Bangladesh's mega inoculation drives. Though Bangladesh has inked a deal with the Serum Institute to acquire 30 million doses of Covishield, a recent surge in Covid cases in India has made the delivery of the remaining doses uncertain. "Based on available real-life evidence, particularly from the United Kingdom, the Covid-19 Working Group has agreed to increase the dosing interval between two doses of Covishield to 12-16 weeks," the Indian government said in a statement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the world's largest Covid vaccination drive in India on January 16. Covishield and local pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech's Covaxin are currently being given to the citizens of India.  Also read: India to begin Covaxin vaccine trials for children The Indian government has, however, not announced any changes in dosage intervals for Covaxin, which remains at four to six weeks. "No change in intervals for Covaxin was recommended," the statement said. Serum's CEO Adar Poonawalla has welcomed the government's announcement. "This is beneficial both from efficacy and immunogenicity standpoints... good scientific decision to increase the gap," he told a local news channel. Also read: India returnee tests Covid-19 positive in N’ganj, house put under lockdown Poonawalla also cited a study in international medical journal The Lancet, linking widening of Covishield doses to increased efficacy. India's main opposition Congress party has, however, expressed apprehensions over the government's latest move, given the fact that there has been a change in Covishield dosage intervals for the second time in three months. "First, it was four weeks for the second dose, then six-eight weeks and now we are told 12-16 weeks. Is this because there are not enough stocks of vaccines or because professional scientific advice says so?" senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted: "Can we expect some transparency from the Modi government?" he added. India is not only reeling under the twin burdens of a huge surge in Covid-19 cases and an acute shortage of jabs, but also facing a deadly crunch of medical oxygen. In the past one month, at least 120 patients have died at different hospitals in India due to oxygen shortage. With Prime Minister Modi's government failing miserably to stem the oxygen crisis, the Supreme Court last week set up a 12-member National Task Force to assess the availability of the life-saving gas across the country and help resolve the crisis at the earliest. Also read: Stranded Bangladeshis in India: 3 more land ports to be reopened   "The rationale for constituting a Task Force at a national level is to facilitate public health response to the pandemic based on scientific and specialised domain knowledge. We expect leading experts in the country shall associate with the Task Force," judges had said.

Unable to cope with the growing demand for its Covid-19 jabs in India and abroad, the Serum Institute is reportedly planning to soon start the production of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in other countries as well. Serum's Covishield is being widely used in both India and Bangladesh's mega inoculation drives. Bangladesh has inked a deal with Serum to buy 30 million doses of Covishield, but a recent surge in Covid cases in India has made the delivery of the remaining doses uncertain. Read Will soon come out of uncertainty over vaccine availability: Minister   Serum's chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla revealed his plans to set up vaccine production units outside India in an interview with The Times newspaper. "There's going to be an announcement in the next few days," he told the British daily.  Poonawalla hoped to increase the Serum Institute's production capacity from the existing 2.5 billion to 3 billion doses a year within six months, the newspaper reported. Read Bangladesh approves emergency use of Russian Sputnik V vaccine India is currently witnessing a ferocious second wave of Covid-19. On Saturday, the country registered a record four lakh cases in a span of 24 hours, for the first time after reporting over three lakh daily infections for nine days in a row. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the world's largest Covid vaccination drive on January 16. Covishield and local company Bharat Biotech's Covaxin are currently being given to citizens. However, several states in India have run out of Covid vaccines. Read PVA bats for suspension of intellectual property rights on Covid jabs

The government of Bangladesh on Tuesday (April 27, 2021) approved the emergency use of Russian Sputnik V Vaccine. The approval was given at a meeting of the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA). Also read: FM to join China-led virtual meeting on vaccine cooperation After the meeting, Director General of DGDA Mahbubur Rahman said, “Now there’s no legal bar to the import or use of this vaccine. If Bangladesh wants to purchase it, Russia will provide it next month,” he said.  “If everything goes well, this vaccine is expected to be available by May. In the first phase, 40 lakh doses will arrive,” he added. Read US will share AstraZeneca vaccines with world The DG said the DGDA has a 12-member public health emergency committee which examined the efficacy of the vaccine. The vaccine is around 91 percent effective against Covid and its emergency use has been approved considering all these things, he added. Read Will take 2 weeks to get vaccine from alternative sources: FM Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine gives around 92% protection against Covid-19, reported BBC on February 2 this year referring to late-stage trial results published in The Lancet reveal. “The vaccine was approved by Russia and it’s now being used in seven countries of the world. We’ve got all the data about it and we’ve scrutinised it through technical experts,” Mahbub added. Read Vaccine is not the only solution: Quader  Apparently considering its dwindling stock, the government suspended administering the first dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from Apr 26.

Despite its high demand in India, Dhaka hopes that New Delhi will supply the rest of the Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine doses produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) to Bangladesh as agreed between the two countries with other options open.    “India is telling us that it’ll (March consignment) come but yet to arrive. We believe in their assurance,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told UNB in an interview at his residence. He said Bangladesh received 3.2 million doses of vaccine as a gift from India but the consignment of 5 million doses that was scheduled to arrive in March from India is yet to come. Read Covishield and Covaxin: What we know about India's Covid-19 vaccines Bangladesh has purchased three crore doses of the vaccine from the Serum Institute and the first shipment of 50 lakh arrived here in January last week while the second consignment of 20 lakh doses of Covid-19 came in February. The Foreign Minister acknowledged the high demand of vaccines globally, including the demand by some political leaders in India to halt export. “I think it won’t be applicable for us as we’ve made arrangements and made advance payment. India announced the vaccine will be delivered as per schedule. And we believe it,” Dr Momen said. Also read: Funding for vaccine procurement earmarked in deals with WB, ADB: Dr Meerjady Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to place an immediate moratorium on the export of vaccines, fast track approval of other vaccines and open up vaccination to everyone who needs it.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday reaffirmed that the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine will be rolled out on Thursday next (April 8) as per the schedule. She came up with the reassurance while presiding over the weekly Cabinet meeting virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban. “The Prime Minister has made it clear that the roll-out of the second dose of coronavirus vaccine will begin on April 8 as usual as per the schedule,” said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam while briefing reporters after the meeting held at the Bangladesh Secretariat. The roll-out of the first jab of the covid-19 vaccine will start on April 6, he said. Also Read: 20-30 lakh more doses of Covid-19 vaccine to arrive Feb 22 The Cabinet Secretary said there will be no problem with the stock of the second dose of the vaccines as Bangladesh will get the supply of the vaccines from India within the scheduled time. The government will review on Thursday next whether the ongoing 7-day Covid-19 lockdown should be extended or not, he said. Festival allowance for FFs The Cabinet cleared a proposal for providing two festival allowances (each Tk 10,000) to the gallantry award holding freedom fighters, Tk 2,000 as the Bengali New Year allowance to gallantry award holding freedom fighters, war-wounded freedom fighters and martyred freedom fighters’ families and Tk 5,000 as the Victory Day allowance to the living freedom fighters, said the Cabinet Secretary. Now the gallantry award holding freedom fighters are not getting the two festival allowances, the Bengali New Year allowance and the Victory Day allowance, while war-wounded freedom fighters are not getting the Bengali New Year allowance and the Victory Day allowance and the martyred freedom fighter’s families are not getting the Bengali New Year allowance, he said.

Bangladesh registered 16 more Covid-19-related deaths and 2,187 new cases in 24 hours till Thursday morning as the deadly virus keeps spreading fast. 

Ten European Union returnees have so far been detected with the new strain of Covid-19 that was first reported in the UK, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Wednesday.