[BenarNews]
Bangladesh received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccines – a gift from the Indian government – after Chinese state-owned Sinovac late last year withdrew from trials in the country following Dhaka’s refusal to co-fund phase-three tests for its vaccine.
Bangladesh is preparing to begin inoculations in the first week of February after receiving India’s gift of 2 million doses of the Covishield vaccine, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said. The vaccine was developed through a partnership between drug maker AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII).
“Today we have received 20 lakh (2 million) doses of vaccines as a gift from India. It is proven that friendly countries help each other. India helped us with vaccines the way they helped us during our war of independence,” Maleque said, after Indian High Commissioner Vikram K. Doraiswami handed over the vaccine shipment to Bangladesh during a cere