Covishield to be delivered when ‘situation improves’

Information Minister Hasan Mahmud, who is visiting India -- ahead of his proposed meetings with Indian foreign, and information and broadcasting ministers -- has said that New Delhi assured Dhaka of more deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines "when the situation further improves here [in India]."

"The Indian government has assured us that they would provide vaccines that are in the contract... when their situation improves," he told reporters in the Indian capital on Monday.

Hasan Mahmud, who inaugurated the Bangabandhu Media Centre at the Press Club of India (PCI) on Monday, said Indian authority tackled the second wave of coronavirus effectively and the infection rate coming down from over 25 percent to two percent is a "great achievement".

Asked if he was going to flag the issue of vaccine supply during his meetings with Indian ministers, he said this is unlikely.

"I have not come for vaccines.... We understand your [India's] local demand and complexities.... India-Bangladesh relationship is not only (about) the vaccines. There are many other issues... we have a historical relationship," he said.

The minister is likely to meet his Indian counterpart Anurag Thakur and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during the four-day visit to Delhi.

"And, as you had a domestic demand, many people were dying at that time (during the second wave of the pandemic in India)... so domestic demand definitely was the top priority," Mahmud said.

"Unfortunately, the second wave of Covid-19 hit India a few months ago. That's why we did not get further deliveries. But I must register my thanks to the Indian government and Serum Institute of India," he said.