Bangladesh receives new batch of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines

DHAKA, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh on Saturday received a new batch of China's Sinopharm vaccines against COVID-19 as the country continued to fight the pandemic.

A plane of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the Chinese vaccine doses arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around noon Saturday, Md. Shamsul Haque, a senior health ministry official, told journalists.

Bangladesh's vaccination drive is now running smoothly in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country thanks largely to China's continued support for vaccines.

To fight against the alarming spike in COVID-19 cases, Bangladesh has signed an agreement on the co-production of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccines locally.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between China's Sinopharm Group, Bangladesh's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Incepta Vaccine Ltd., a local vaccine manufacturing company last month.

Bangladesh began the COVID-19 vaccination drive in January to contain the pandemic that has spread across the country.

Amid uncertainty over the timely arrival of vaccine shipment from India, the Bangladeshi government later halted administering the first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the country.

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