Country to get 24cr jabs by Apr: Momen
Expressing optimism about collecting Covid-19 vaccine jabs, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said Bangladesh is on track to get 24 crore shots either by March or April next year.
"Vaccine doses are coming under the COVAX facility, as gifts and from other sources," the minister told reporters on the sidelines of the "Fifth International Conference on Inclusive Business".
The event was organised by the Dutch-Bangla Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dhaka yesterday.
Momen said Bangladesh needs 26 crore Covid vaccine doses and some jabs would be produced at home too. "However, there is no update on vaccine cooperation with Russia due to the Covid-19 situation there."
He said half of Bangladesh's 16 crore people are young, while 2.22 crore have already been vaccinated.
"Despite significant vaccination in Bangladesh, the United Kingdom kept Bangladesh on the red list which is very unfortunate."
Earlier, Momen reiterated Bangladesh's call to remove the country from the red list, terming the British government's decision "unfair and discriminatory".
He said this while speaking to a small group of journalists at his office on Monday.
Referring to sufferings of more than 7,000 British-Bangladeshis currently stranded in Bangladesh, Momen said the UK government was doing disservice to its own citizens.
"The UK government gave an argument that the vaccination rate is low in Bangladesh, but Bangladesh says that the UK is allowing in people from other countries having lower vaccination rate," he added.
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