Bangladesh looks forward to Chinese friendship doses for inoculation resumption: senior official

Bangladesh looks forward to receiving Chinese friendship vaccine doses, all set to reach Dhaka Wednesday, for resumption of inoculation drive at its earliest, a senior Bangladeshi official has said.

Muhammad Faruk Khan, chairman of Bangladesh's Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, told Xinhua in an interview on Tuesday that the country's vaccination drive, which suffered a setback following exhaustion of the stocks, will soon be resumed thanks to the Chinese vaccine.

Khan, who is also a lawmaker and a former minister, said that he would like to thank the Chinese people, the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government for sending COVID-19 vaccine doses as gift and the gifts they had sent in the past year to help Bangladesh fight COVID-19.

The Bangladeshi official also conveyed his gratitude and thanks to China for sending experts including doctors to Bangladesh for consultation and sharing experiences on COVID-19.

Regarding a conference with foreign ministers from countries in the region, which China had hosted recently, he said this is an excellent initiative from the Chinese government to help countries in the region to fight COVID-19 efficiently.

With reference to the decision by the World Health Organization (WHO) to list China's Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use, he said this is to be a boon for the inoculation drive against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, especially in countries like Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the country's COVID-19 vaccination drive on Jan. 28 to rein in the pandemic that has so far spread across Bangladesh.

Amid uncertainty over the timely arrival of the next COVID-19 vaccine shipment from India, the Bangladeshi government later halted administering first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine across the country.