Bangladesh will soon get 2.5 million doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine under COVAX facility as the country’s desperate wait for vaccines from many sources is getting longer. 

Health Minister Zahid Maleque and US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl Miller have confirmed it.

COVAX, the global vaccine alliance, has already written to Bangladesh that the Moderna vaccine shots will be arriving here within seven to 10 days.

Also read: Bangladesh to get $ 940 mln ADB loans for procuring Covid vaccine

Ambassador Miller tweeted saying that Bangladesh will soon receive a gift of 2.5 million doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from the American people via GAVI. 

"As the largest contributor to COVAX, the U.S. is committed to increasing the country’s vaccine supply to beat the pandemic here and worldwide," he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday condemned a global failure noting that the rich countries are opening up societies and vaccinating young people who are not at great risk from Covid-19, while the poorest countries cruelly lack doses.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday said Covid-19 vaccine has now apparently become another “tool of exploitation” mentioning that some rich countries are holding back vaccine doses beyond their internal demands.

Also read: Bangladesh to get fair share of vaccines: US Congresswoman

“They (rich countries) assure us only saying, you don’t worry, but nobody gives us vaccines. In some cases, they want to know whether we (Bangladesh) will support them on a particular issue (various elections in global forums). That should not be tagged with Covid vaccination. It should be independent,” he said without naming any specific country.

Dr Momen said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been saying from day one that vaccines should be a public good and should be affordable to everyone. “No discrimination should be there. Unfortunately, rich countries are sitting with more vaccines going beyond their requirement. They are not using those and there are incidents of date expiry.”

Also read: Countries like Bangladesh need support for vaccine production: FM

The Foreign Minister said the US wants to give vaccine doses to Bangladesh but they want to give it mainly through the COVAX facility.