1,00,620 Pfizer vaccines arrive in Bangladesh

The first consignment of 100,620 doses of Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine arrived in Bangladesh last night under the global vaccine-sharing initiative COVAX. “A total of 1,00,620 shots of COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine under COVAX scheme reached Bangladesh at 11.22 pm last night ” Dr Md Shamsul Haque, Line Director of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health under Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told BSS.

The DGHS sources said the Pfizer vaccine doses have been brought to Bangladesh as part of the global vaccine initiative COVAX. Officials of DGHS received the vaccines at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

Bangladesh is expected to receive 6.8 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines from COVAX, they added.

On May 27, the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) approved emergency use of Pfizer mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in the country.

The vaccine produced by Pfizer Manufacturing Belgium NV is the fourth Covid-19 vaccine approved so far by the DGDA for emergency use in Bangladesh.

The other three are: Covishield produced by Serum Institute of India; Sputnik V manufactured by Generium Joint Stock Company of Russia; and Sinopharm produced by Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd of China.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), and the World Health Organization are co-leads of the COVAX initiative for equitable global access to Covid-19 vaccines.