WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: The United States began shipping 2.5 million doses of Moderna’s Covid vaccine to Bangladesh on Tuesday, a White House official told AFP, as the South Asian country confronted a wave of new infections.
“Thanks to the US commitment to playing a leading role in ending the pandemic everywhere, 2.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine will begin to ship to Bangladesh’’, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Illustrating the urgency, delivery is expected to be completed this week.
Bangladesh, which neighbours India, began a severe lockdown on Monday in response to spiralling infections from the Delta variant. People are restricted to their homes, with offices closed, traffic shut down and the security forces enforcing compliance.
The South Asian country of around 170 million people recorded nearly 6,000 cases last Friday. Authorities say that districts near the Indian border are suffering especially badly, with hospitals in the cities of Khulna and Rajshahi overwhelmed.
Bangladesh “has a 55 per cent week-over-week increase in cases, driven largely by the Delta variant’’, a White House official said, explaining how the country made it onto the urgent list.
President Joe Biden has declared the United States the world’s vaccine “arsenal” in the war on Covid-19.
APPROVAL FOR
MODERNA’S JAB
India on Tuesday authorised the emergency use of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine as it seeks to ramp up its vaccination drive in the wake of a record-breaking surge in infections and deaths.
The vast nation of 1.3 billion people was hit by a massive spike in coronavirus cases in April and May that pushed the healthcare system to breaking point.
Moderna’s shot is the fourth to be approved by New Delhi after Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield and Covaxin, which was developed by Indian firm Bharat Biotech and Russia’s Sputnik V.
“I am pleased to inform that an application received from Moderna through an Indian partner of theirs, Cipla, has been granted EUA (Emergency Use Authorisation)’’, a member of government advisory body NITI Aayog, Vinod K Paul, said at a health ministry briefing. — AFP
Five Indian drugmakers to jointly start trial of Merck & Co’s Covid-19 drug and the country grants emergency approval for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
