Around 54 lakh more doses of the Sinopharm vaccine arrived in Dhaka from China in the small hours of Saturday. A regular flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines landed at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 12.44 am with the vaccine consignment, Dr Shahriar Sazzad, in-charge of the airport health camp, said. "Md Shamsul Haque, a line director at the Directorate General of Health Services, received the consignment at the airport," he told UNB. The consignment is actually part of the commercial purchase from China, said Deputy Chief of Mission at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka, Hualong Yan. This is so far the second-largest batch of vaccine doses commercially purchased by Bangladesh from China. READ: Dhaka receives 56 lakh Sinopharm vaccine doses "As a strategic partner of Bangladesh, China will always remain the most reliable supplier whatever and whenever the country needs," Hualong said. With the new doses, China will have supplied over two crore doses of Sinopharm to Bangladesh commercially. Another 2.4 million doses have also been received from China as bilateral assistance. Bangladesh has so far received Sinopharm vaccine doses from China as a gift, under COVAX facility, and commercial purchase. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently told Parliament that the government had made arrangements to get more than one crore Covid-19 jabs every month. According to the schedule received from the company producing Sinopharm, two crore shots will be available every month from October and six crore from December, she added. On August 16, Bangladesh, China and Incepta Vaccine Limited signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the co-production of the Sinopharm vaccine in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is now administering vaccines developed by four companies -- AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Sinopharm. The government has administered at least 33,699,773 doses of the four Covid vaccines – enough to have immunized around 10% of the country's population, assuming every person needs two doses. Bangladesh has administered 10,990,721 shots of Sinopharm as the first dose and 5,784,265 as the second dose so far. Since the start of the Covid pandemic, the country has recorded 1,527,215 infections and 26,832 deaths, according to the Directorate General of Health Services. The Covid vaccines cannot offer 100% protection but when more people are jabbed there is less opportunity for the virus to infect and spread, say experts. READ: 20 lakh more Sinopharm doses to reach Dhaka soon Getting vaccinated prevents severe illness, hospitalisations, and death; and with the Delta variant, this is more urgent than ever, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Twenty lakh more doses of the Sinophamrm vaccine are expected to reach Dhaka from China early Tuesday. The vaccine doses are scheduled to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines at 2.30am, according to the health ministry. On August 16, Bangladesh, China and Incepta Vaccine Limited signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the coproduction of Sinopharm vaccine in Bangladesh. Incepta, a leading pharmaceutical company of Bangladesh, will bring in bulk and bottling, labelling and finishing of the vaccine will be done locally, making the price relatively very cheap. China has provided 2.1 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine as a gift to Bangladesh, 3.4 million doses under the COVAX facility, and 8 million doses as part of an arrangement of a large-scale commercial purchase so far. READ: MoU signing on coproduction of Sinopharm jab Aug 16 Till now, 13.5 million Sinopharm vaccines have arrived from China. Of them, 1.1 million shots were received under the COVAX facility.

Bangladesh will sign a memorandum of understanding on coproduction of Sinopharm vaccine with relevant parties on August 16. The signing ceremony will be held at 3pm at BCPS auditorium Mohakhali in the city, said the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka. Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming will attend and witness the signing of the MoU. Read: A million more Sinopharm doses land in Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen earlier said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on coproduction of Sinopharm vaccine in Bangladesh is ready for signing and it should be done without any delay. “We’ve received it (MoU) and it’s with the Health Ministry. It should be done at any moment. I think the Health Ministry should dispose of it very quickly,” he told reporters. Read: US okays Covid booster dose for those with weak immune systems Dr Momen said the government of Bangladesh, Sinopharm and a local company (Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd) will sign the agreement. He said Incepta will bring in bulk and bottling, labeling and finishing of the vaccine will be done locally making the price relatively very cheap.

 Bangladesh on Friday received ten lakh (1 million) doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine from China as a gift. This new batch of China-aided vaccine doses arrived just after former batches of 11 lakh gifted Chinese Sinopharm vaccine doses received on May 12 and June 13. Read: Dhaka to receive 10 lakh Sinopharm vaccine doses shortly A chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the consignment arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 6pm. Besides, another Biman flight is scheduled to leave for China on 14 August to bring more doses of the vaccine. Tahera Khandaker, deputy general manager (Public Relations) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, confirmed the information. Earlier,  17 lakh more doses of Sinopharm reached here as part of the Covax facility. On the other hand, the government on Wednesday approved a proposal to purchase six crores more doses of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine from China. Besides, the government previously paid China for 1.5 crore doses of the vaccine, of which 70 lakh doses have already arrived in the country. In fighting against the virus, China and Bangladesh have always been standing together, supporting and assisting each other in times of difficulties and challenges, vividly illustrating the profound friendship between the two countries, said the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka. The pandemic is yet another reminder that the humanity rise and fall together with a shared future, it said. Confronted by a pandemic like COVID-19, the vision of building a global community of health for all, tide over this trying time through solidarity and cooperation must be championed and any attempt to politicize, label or stigmatize the virus be firmly rejected, said the Embassy.

Bangladesh will soon receive another consignment of 1.77 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine under COVAX facility.The consignment will be arriving here by Emirates Airlines  flight which departed Beijing at 7:20am (Beijing time) on Wednesday.The vaccines will arrive will arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport via Doha, said Hualong Yan, Deputy Chief of Mission at Chinese Embassy in Dhaka. READ: 1.7mn Sinopharm vaccine doses to arrive soon On Tuesday, Bangladesh received Sinopharm's 1.7 million doses of vaccine under COVAX facility.Earlier, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said Bangladesh will receive another consignment of 34 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine this week while 60 lakh doses of Pfizer vaccine in September next week. READ: Vaccination drive in Bangladesh: Procurement of 60 mln Sinopharm doses gets nod Apart from that, he said Bangladesh will also receive 10 lakh doses of AstraZeneca vaccine soon which is likely to come under the COVAX facility.

The government will procure six crore more doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China to ramp up the inoculation drive across Bangladesh, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday. “We’ve signed a deal with China to receive 1.5 crore doses of Sinopharm vaccine. China has already started sending the vaccine doses. We’ll sign another agreement to collect six core more doses as the prime minister has approved it,” he said. The health minister came up with the disclosure while inaugurating a covid field hospital at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).  Also read: Mega Covid inoculation drive begins in Bangladesh “Of the seven crore doses of Sinopharm vaccine, two crore doses will arrive in October and November each while some more vaccine jabs will come before the two months though those will be less in quantity,” he said.

Bangladesh will receive another consignment of 34 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine next week while 60 lakh doses of Pfizer vaccine in the first week of September, said Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday. Apart from that, Bangladesh will also receive 10 lakh doses of AstraZeneca vaccine soon which is likely to come under the COVAX facility, he said. “We’ve lined up well. We think we’re on the right track,” he told reporters at State guesthouse Padma after attending a function there. Referring to the Health Ministry, Dr Momen said Bangladesh has a stock of 1.23 crore vaccine doses and some of the doses (AstraZeneca) will be kept for the second dose. Read: No movement without vaccine will be allowed after Aug. 11: Minister On coproduction of vaccine, he said the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on coproduction of Sinopharm vaccine in Bangladesh will be signed at any moment. The Law Ministry has already cleared it after vetting and  it will be signed at any moment, said the Foreign Minister adding that “Everything is final.” Dr Momen said the coproduction of vaccine doses in Bangladesh is essential. “I want the start of coproduction.” Earlier, he said the MoU is with the Health Ministry and the Health Ministry should dispose of it very quickly. Read: Vaccine coproduction deal with Sinopharm ready for signing: FM Dr Momen said the government of Bangladesh, Sinopharm and a local company (Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd) will sign the agreement. Incepta will bring in bulk and bottling, labeling and finishing of the vaccine will be done locally making the price relatively very cheap. Asked whether there is any shift from the government plan to vaccinate 1 crore people each week, Dr Momen said it is their target as per the Health Ministry and hoped to vaccinate 8 crore people within two months.

Bangladesh on Thursday night received 10 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine as part of commercial purchase from China while 20 lakh more are scheduled to arrive by early Friday. An aircraft of Bangladesh Biman Airlines landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport carrying 10 lakh doses of Sinopharma vaccine from China around 10:30pm, Dr Shahriar Sazzad, in-charge of the airport health centre, told UNB. Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh lowers vaccination age to 25 Thirty lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China are supposed to reach Bangladesh on Thursday night and early Friday, sources at the health ministry said. The vaccine consignments were scheduled to arrive at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in three flights at 10pm, 1am and 3 am, the sources added. Read: Covid in Bangladesh: Daily toll remains above 200; 15,271 more infected Earlier, Bangladesh received 20 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine jabs on July 17 and July 18. The vaccine doses were provided as part of a commercial agreement with China.

Thirty lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China will reach Bangladesh on Thursday night and early Friday, health ministry sources said. The consignment of vaccines will arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in three flights at 10pm, 1am and 3 am, added the sources. Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh lowers vaccination age to 25 Earlier, some 20 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in two aircrafts on July 17 and early July 18. The vaccines were provided as part of a commercial agreement with China. Read: Covid in Bangladesh: Daily toll remains above 200; 15,271 more infected

Bangladesh will receive 20 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China on Saturday night as part of the commercial agreement as the country has accelerated its vaccination drive. Deputy Chief of Mission at Chinese Embassy in Dhaka Hualong Yan on Friday told UNB that the vaccine doses will arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in two aircraft. He said China will also provide 10 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine in addition to the 11 lakh doses already received as a gift from it. "This is a gift for our Bangladeshi brothers and sisters in their fight against the pandemic," Hualong Yan said. Read: China to continue providing vaccine aid to Bangladesh: Wang Yi Bangladesh has already received 20 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine as part of commercial purchase from China. Bangladesh will receive initially 1.5 crore doses of vaccine as part of a commercial purchase agreement. Hualong said China stands ready to provide support and assistance to help with Bangladesh government's poverty alleviation through the China-South Asian Countries Poverty Alleviation and Cooperative Development Center. Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will continue to provide Bangladesh with the Covid vaccines to help Bangladesh fight the epidemic. Read: Covid-19: Government orders 66 crore vaccine doses worth RS 14,505 crore He also said China is willing to work with Bangladesh to maintain the momentum of the development of the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries. The Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister met Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momon in Tashkent and discussed the issues on the sidelines of the International Conference on “Central and South Asia: Regional connectivity - Challenges and opportunities” on Thursday. Wang Yi said that China and Bangladesh are good neighbours and friends and the two sides always adhere to equal treatment and mutual respect, continue to deepen friendly cooperation, and actively jointly build the "Belt and Road".