Diplomatic Correspondent

China will deliver the second consignment of Covid-19 vaccines as gifts to Bangladesh by June 13, said the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka yesterday.

Deputy Chief of Mission at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka Hualong Yan, on his Facebook page, wrote, “600,000 vaccines as gifts by the Chinese government is ready for delivery by 13th of June.”

Earlier Health Minister Zahid Maleque told The Daily Star that Chinese officials had informed Bangladesh about the arrival of the vaccines in seven to 10 days.

On May 12, Bangladesh received a gift of five lakh Sinopharm vaccine doses from China. The government has already started administering those doses to medical students on a priority basis.

The Chinese vaccine arrives in Bangladesh when it is desperately looking for vaccines from different sources after India halted AstraZeneca vaccine export in March amid a massive rise in Covid-19 infections.

Bangladesh is in the process of signing an agreement with China to buy 1.5 crore Sinopharm vaccines. It is also negotiating with Russia to buy Sputnik V vaccines.

“It’s sincerely hoped that our Bangladeshi brothers and sisters will get the most needed vaccines at an earlier date,” Hualong wrote in another post on Facebook.