Bangladesh receives new batch of Sinopharm vaccines from China

DHAKA, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh has received a new batch of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines from China.

A plane of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying 5 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Thursday, Health Ministry spokesperson Maidul Islam Prodhan told Xinhua Friday.

"We've received 5 million Sinopharm vaccine doses from China Thursday," he said.

On Sept. 18 and 11, Bangladesh respectively received 5 million and 5.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's pharmaceutical Sinopharm Group.

Bangladesh's vaccination drive is currently running smoothly in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere largely thanks to China's continued vaccine support.

To fight the alarming spike in COVID-19 cases, Bangladesh has reached an agreement with the Chinese side on co-production of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine locally.

Bangladesh launched its COVID-19 vaccination drive in January to contain the pandemic that has spread across the South Asian country.

The Bangladeshi government halted administering the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine after India banned vaccine exports.

In June, the vaccination drive resumed in parts of the country with the China-donated Sinopharm vaccines.