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The Indian government will not allow the export of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for several months. According to the Indian Serum Institute of India, it will focus on meeting local demand for the next two months before exporting to interested countries.
Early next month, 5 million doses of vaccine were to be received from this serum institute in Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi government also said on Sunday that 600 million rupees Tk would be deposited into the serum account as an advance for vaccination. But the next day came news of India’s ban on vaccine exports.
When asked about this, Chancellor AK Abdul Momen told BBC Bangla: “He received the news through the media that the export of the coronavirus vaccine had been stopped.”
He said: ‘I have learned from journalists that the ban has been imposed. Then I contacted the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka. They said they didn’t know anything about it. They are trying to find out what happened. We are in close contact with India in this regard.
However, the foreign minister hoped that “even if India imposes sanctions, Bangladesh’s warm relations with them will not be a problem for us to get vaccinated.”
On January 2, the Indian government approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Serum Institute has already signed bilateral agreements with Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco on vaccine export.
Under the agreement, the Serum Institute will deliver 30 million vaccines to Bangladesh within six months. Each month 5 million vaccines will come.
On January 3, the government of Bangladesh already announced a deposit of more than Tk 600 crore for the purchase of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India. In return, the Serum Institute will give a bank guarantee.
Earlier, the Bangladesh health department said it would reimburse the money in advance to Bangladesh if they could not be vaccinated in June, according to the agreement.
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