Norway, Sweden and Switzerland provide 1.2mn vaccine doses to Bangladesh
The vaccines, donated by the three Schengen countries to the global Covax facility, arrived in Bangladesh on 9 December
The ambassadors to Bangladesh of Switzerland, Sweden, and Norway, yesterday handed over 1.2 million AstraZeneca Covid vaccine doses to the Bangladesh government.
The vaccines, donated by the three Schengen countries to the global Covax facility, arrived in Bangladesh on 9 December.
The AstraZeneca doses were symbolically handed over by the ambassadors at a formal Padma State Guest House ceremony in the capital, according to a press statement on Sunday.
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Senior Secretary of the Health Services Division, Lokman Hossian Miah, received the vaccines on behalf of the Bangladesh government.
The secretary (west) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other senior government officials were also present at the event.
The ambassadors welcomed the decision of Covax to allocate and deliver the AstraZeneca Covid vaccines to Bangladesh on the occasion.
Of this total donation, 535,200 doses were given by Sweden, 446,000 by Switzerland, and 237,600 by Norway.
In a joint statement, the ambassadors highlighted the importance of an effective multilateral response to the global pandemic and reiterated the commitment of their countries to rapid and equal global access to safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines.
Living up to their global engagement, the three countries have each pledged financial support to the multilateral "Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator" (ACT-A) initiative, and have donated vaccines to its Covax facility, said the press statement.
