Nepal, Bangladesh scramble to secure Covid-19 shots
Published: 09:05 PM,May 19,2021 | EDITED : 07:05 PM,May 19,2021
KATHMANDU/DHAKA: Nepal and Bangladesh are making frantic diplomatic efforts to secure Covid-19 vaccines to prop up their faltering inoculation drives as their stocks run out and supply prospects have become clouded by a prolonged Indian curb on vaccine exports.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that India was unlikely to resume major exports of Covid-19 vaccines until October at the earliest as it diverts shots for domestic use, a longer-than-expected delay set to worsen a shortage of supplies coming through the COVAX global vaccine sharing scheme, designed to help low-income countries.
Bangladesh said it urgently needed 1.6 million doses of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine to provide second doses and it had approached several countries for help, including the United States and Canada.
“Bangladesh foreign minister urged the Canadian High Commissioner to pursue with his government so that Bangladesh receives at least 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Canada on an emergency basis,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said its diplomats were also hoping to secure 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the United States, which plans to share up to 60 million doses of the vaccine.
Bangladesh has an agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII), which manufactures the AstraZeneca shot, for 30 million doses, but has received only 7 million.
Bangladesh has also turned to China and Russia for supplies of China’s Sinopharm and the Russian Sputnik V vaccines after India curbed vaccine exports in April. Bangladesh has been relying on the AstraZeneca vaccine but only 2 per cent of its 170 million people are fully vaccinated. — Reuters
Reuters reported on Tuesday that India was unlikely to resume major exports of Covid-19 vaccines until October at the earliest as it diverts shots for domestic use, a longer-than-expected delay set to worsen a shortage of supplies coming through the COVAX global vaccine sharing scheme, designed to help low-income countries.
Bangladesh said it urgently needed 1.6 million doses of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine to provide second doses and it had approached several countries for help, including the United States and Canada.
“Bangladesh foreign minister urged the Canadian High Commissioner to pursue with his government so that Bangladesh receives at least 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Canada on an emergency basis,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said its diplomats were also hoping to secure 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the United States, which plans to share up to 60 million doses of the vaccine.
Bangladesh has an agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII), which manufactures the AstraZeneca shot, for 30 million doses, but has received only 7 million.
Bangladesh has also turned to China and Russia for supplies of China’s Sinopharm and the Russian Sputnik V vaccines after India curbed vaccine exports in April. Bangladesh has been relying on the AstraZeneca vaccine but only 2 per cent of its 170 million people are fully vaccinated. — Reuters