Bangladesh has taken an initiative to buy two million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the private sector, after appeals to the US and UK governments for Covid-19 shots yielded nothing.
The director general of the health services directorate in Dhaka recently held a virtual meeting with a supplier of the Oxford vaccine in the UK after the Bangladesh High Commission in London contacted the supplier, a high commission official told The Daily Star yesterday. The DG Health had some questions for the supplying company and the answers have been provided, the source said, adding that the price of the doses is being discussed.
WORLD
This will the second such meeting between the two countries. [Courtesy]
India and Japan are planning to hold a 2+2 format meeting of foreign and defence ministers in Tokyo later this month, Japanese media reported.
According to NHK, Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu and Defence Minister Kishi Nobuo are due to attend the meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
This will the second such meeting between the two countries as the inaugural meeting of the India-Japan Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue (2+2) was held on November 30, 2019, in New Delhi.
According to Asia Nikkei, this comes as China ramps up its activities in the disputed East and South China Seas. Meanwhile, Japan s Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide is also making arrangements to visit India.
Quest for Covid Vaccine: Dhaka seeks 4m doses from US
Photo courtesy: UNB Staff Correspondent Staff Correspondent
The government has sought immediate delivery of 4 million vaccine doses from the US, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said yesterday. We ve sought immediate release of 4 million doses of vaccine, he told reporters after his meeting with US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl Miller at his foreign ministry office, reports UNB.
This was the latest government effort to collect vaccines from alternative sources as the stock of Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs is running out fast, making the ongoing countrywide vaccine inoculation uncertain.
Already, the government suspended administration of the first dose on April 26, immediately after the Indian government barred export of Covishield the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India.
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The Big Story: Tardy grade
The support was late, but effusive. Over a couple of hours on Sunday, a whole slew of top US officials issued statements of support for India as it struggled to handle an enormous surge in Covid-19 cases, recording the worst daily numbers globally.
The messages of solidarity started with President Joe Biden and included Vice President Kamala Harris, the secretary of state, the defence secretary, the national security adviser and the surgeon general, among others.
Pressure mounts on US to send supplies to India
Pressure mounts on US to send supplies to India
Agencies / Updated: Apr 25, 2021, 06:00 IST
█ Covid-19 crisis
Biden administration to ship AstraZeneca and other supplies to India
WASHINGTON The
US Chambers of Commerce, lawmakers and eminent Indian-Americans have stepped up pressure on the Biden administration to ship AstraZeneca and other Covid-19 vaccines along with several life-saving medical supplies to India, which is witnessing a deadly surge in coronavirus cases. “As the Covid pandemic inflicts a heavy toll on countries around the globe, the US Chamber strongly encourages the administration to release the millions of AstraZeneca vaccine doses in storage - as well as other life-saving support - for shipment to India, Brazil, and other nations hard-hit by the pandemic,” said Myron Brilliante, executive vicepresident and head of international affairs at the