781,320 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in Japan arrived at Dhaka International Airport from Japan. In addition, another consignment of 616,780 doses is scheduled to arrive on August 3, totaling approximately 1.4 million doses.
They are part of a total of about 3 million doses that the Japanese government will provide to Bangladesh through the COVAX Facility to meet the urgent needs of the Bangladeshi people who have been long waiting for the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. These are the second and the third batch following the first consignment of 245,000 doses which arrived on July 24.
On the arrival of the vaccine, a handover ceremony was held by the Government of Bangladesh, which was attended by Foreign Minister H.E. Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen, H.E. Mr. Zahid Maleque, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Health Services Division Secretary Mr. Lokman Hossain Miah, and H.E. Mr. Naoki Ito, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh.
This vaccine support is expected to contribute to the Bangladesh government’s efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to save people’s lives in Bangladesh.
Japan hopes that the vaccination of AstraZeneca will resume soon and reiterates that it will stand by Bangladesh in the fight against COVID-19 and will work together to suppress COVID-19 as soon as possible.