Bangladesh urgently seeks 1.6mn AstraZeneca doses from UK
After its request to america, Bangladesh has urged the uk (UK) to help it by giving vaccine doses to meet up its crisis needs as the next dose vaccination is disrupted in Bangladesh.
"I'm not requesting an excessive amount of, I'm only requesting 1.6m AstraZeneca doses they have, they should immediately disburse those to Bangladesh in order that people can include their second dose," Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Mome said within an interview with ITV Information, reports UNB.
Dr Momen said his communication to the UK federal government is that they must be even more sincere. "They should support their Commonwealth member says."
He said Bangladesh is a wonderful friend of the united kingdom and so many Bangladeshis donate to the UK economy. "... so the UK should arrive forward."
Speaking to ITV Media, Dr Momen explained the vaccine scenario in Bangladesh as a "crisis", adding: "We're desperate."
Bangladesh entered into a deal with the Serum Institute of India (SII) to get 30 million doses of a potential vaccine getting produced by AstraZeneca for Covid-19.
Bangladesh was supposed to get five million doses of the vaccine monthly as being the SII and Bangladesh's Beximco Pharma signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for priority delivery of the vaccine doses.
Bangladesh sought at least 3 million doses of the vaccine beneath the agreement to handle the immediate demand on Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has so far received sole 7 million of Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine doses made by Serum Institute of India (SII) through its agreement. Bangladesh also received 3.3 million doses of the vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift.
"India is facing an extremely critical situation, incredibly alarming... They're selecting it difficult, we can understand it," Dr Momen explained. "Hence, they're failing to distribute the vaccine they promised to send us."
He told ITV Reports that the Bangladeshi federal government has appealed right to the UK federal government for these required doses, however the request was finally rejected on the grounds that the united kingdom government didn't have the capacity.
"We've a belief that if the [UK] federal government tries, it can carry out it because they've the capability," the Bangladesh Foreign Minister said.
Although Covid-19 daily cases in Bangladesh are relatively low and, based on the Foreign Minister, measures were in place to avoid the spread of the Indian variant into Bangladesh, the identification of six cases in Bangladesh previous this month has worried some experts.
On Friday, the Foreign Minister reached away to global media to allow world know that Bangladesh desperately looks for vaccines desperately and is ready to accept any shipment desperately from any region, including the United States.
"We need it desperately. If any shipment comes, we'll have it immediately," he advised CNN in a live interview.
Dr Momen said the big difficulty is that a sizable number of people found in Bangladesh who took the earliest dose of Oxford-AstraZenecacould not get the next dose. "Because we don't have any considerably more. We can't provide them with the next dose. That's creating a lot of problems for us," said the Foreign Minister.
He said the federal government of Bangladesh is wanting to get vaccines from other places plus they were delighted when Bangladesh heard that the united states will be distributing some of the AstraZenecavaccines they have.
Dr Momen said he had requested the US government and sent a good letter to his counterpart US Secretary of Status. "They decided to give us by and large. "
Now the challenge is, he explained, the united states Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking a long time to approve the export of AstraZeneca.
Dr Momen said they are actually thankful to US President Joe Biden for announcing that the united states will be distributing a few of the AstraZeneca vaccine to developing countries, pretty good sized quantities - 60 million as well as 20 around - 80 million vaccines. "That is good news for all of us."
Exploring Multiple Options
On Thursday, Dr Momen stated the government is making its best efforts to get vaccines connecting multiple countries - america, China, Canada and Russia the UK - aside from its continuous demand to India to meet Bangladesh's urgent needs.
He said the debate with China is nearly at the ultimate stage while they are expecting a great reply from the united states on the vaccine front side.
While talking to reporters at State guesthouse Padma, Dr Momen said now there are people who could not take the next dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine because of its short source from India.
He also highlighted the ongoing debate with Russia. "Pray, everything will be settled within a week."
Responding to a concern, the Foreign Minister stated they came to know unofficially that Bangladesh is not there in the priority set of the USA when you will find a lesser amount of deaths in Bangladesh.
"I didn't just like the thought. They (US) don't believe it's an emergency in Bangladesh," he explained, adding that it is an emergency issue for Bangladesh.
US STATE DEPT. Coordinator for Global COVID Response and Health Security Gayle E Smith has said the United States is going to be the largest sharer of vaccines putting 80 million more doses in to the mix.
"I can't let you know at this stage what the allocation will be per region. We'll have facts for you down the road. And as I think I mentioned, we are also, regarding India and in addition India's neighbours, mounting an emergency humanitarian response given the surges that are ongoing there," she explained.
In a telephonic mass media briefing on Wednesday, Smith described an announcement by US President Joe Biden earlier this week that they can be posting 20 million vaccine doses from their own stocks in addition to the 60 million AstraZeneca doses which were announced previously by the President.
"So that means we will be putting 80 million additional vaccine doses in to the mix, building us the largest sharer of vaccines so far," she said.
THE UNITED STATES official said given the surge there, India is a key priority for the US. "We've delivered $100 million in crisis assistance; mobilised with the American individual sector a fairly amazing response, once again, from the American exclusive sector and general public, and we'll continue to do so."
Smith said she does not have anything to state yet on the best allocations, nonetheless they will reach out and make sure that each is informed when those decisions are created.
Giving an answer to a question in India, Dr Momen explained India did never claim that they can not give vaccines to Bangladesh but didn't deliver.
He said India was requested to supply vaccine doses to Bangladesh seeing as a gift to meet its emergency want if India comes with an embargo on export.
"I should say we had a very positive conversation (with my Indian counterpart," Dr Momen said.
