Bangladesh to get vaccines quickly, urgently: Doraiswami

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram K Doraiswami on Saturday reiterated that Bangladesh will receive its supply of the Coronavirus vaccine from an Indian manufacturer "quickly and urgently" as per previous assurances.

"....Bangladesh is our priority, that assurance you have already. The exact schedule, we'll communicate with your government first. That's being done," he told reporters after attending a function in the city.

Reiterating the highest priority India attaches to Bangladesh under India's Neighbourhood First Policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a Summit meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on December 17 last year, assured that vaccines would be made available to Bangladesh as and when produced in India.

On Saturday India launched its own vaccination programme, which aims to vaccinate more than 1.3 billion people against Covid-19, reports BBC.

India has recorded the second-highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world after the United States.

Millions of doses of two approved vaccines - Covishield and Covaxin - were shipped across the country in the days leading up to the start of the drive.

"We are launching the world's biggest vaccination drive and it shows the world our capability," Modi, said, addressing the country on Saturday morning.

The Indian High Commissioner said their Prime Minister assured that neighbors will get the vaccine first and in that list Bangladesh is a priority country.

"Bangladesh will get it urgently as we rolled out the vaccination programme," he said, mentioning that the process is underway.

The envoy said as soon as the government indicates everything is ready, they will work accordingly.

The High Commissioner said vaccination is everybody's right and they will make sure their partners get it quickly.

Bangladesh has a deal with Serum Institute, India (SII) SII through local pharma giant Beximco Pharmaceuticals for 30 million doses of the said vaccine.