The first batch of the Sinopharm vaccine under the government's commercial purchase deal is on the way to Dhaka from China.
"2 million vaccines as the first batch of Bangladeshi government's commercial purchase from China's Sinopharm are ready for delivery in Beijing," Deputy Chief of Mission at Chinese Embassy in Dhaka Hualong Yan said on Wednesday in a facebook post.
"China stands by our Bangladeshi friends in fighting the new wave of the pandemic," he wrote.
The government earlier said Bangladesh would get 1.5 crore of Sinopharm vaccine doses from China soon.
China said they are ready to supply more, if needed.
Besides, Bangladesh will get 2.5 million doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine under the COVAX facility soon as the government has planned mass vaccination across the country.
On 12 June, China delivered half a million doses of Sinopharm vaccine as a gift to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is in desperate need after India banned exports of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines produced by the Serum Institute of India because of its own shattering surge in infections.
Bangladesh received about 7 million doses from the Indian institute, but its deal had called for 30 million doses to be delivered by June.
On June 3, the health authorities in Bangladesh approved the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech, for emergency use in the country.
