Health authorities in Bangladesh have approved Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccines for emergency use in the country, reported Dhaka Tribune. The country is likely to get around 100,000 doses by June. 

Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Drug Administration on Thursday gave approval to Pfizer - the fourth vaccine to get approval in Bangladesh after AstraZeneca-Oxford, Sputnik, and Sinopharm.   

The vaccination drive, which started in February this year in the country, was later disrupted in April as the Serum Institute of India (SII) failed to supply vaccines on time. It had signed an agreement with the SII for 70 million doses. 

Under COVAX- a facility of the WHO to provide vaccines to middle and lower-income group countries- Bangladesh will receive around 100,000 doses of Pfizer by next month. Beijing has recently provided 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine to Dhaka. 

Furthermore, the country has also approved a proposal to buy 15 million Chinese Sinopharm vaccines. It will also locally produce the Sinopharm vaccine. 

(SAM)