The Maldives has donated 200,000 Astra-Zeneca Covid-19 vaccines to Bangladesh following the two nations signing an agreement in Male, the capital of the Maldives. Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to the Maldives Mohmmad Nazmul Hassan received the vaccines on Wednesday. The two countries enjoy close economic relations with the Maldives hosting a significant number of overseas Bangladesh workers. The vaccine donation came as a goodwill gesture from the Maldives. 

The archipelago has already administered over 750,000 doses, which roughly covers 70 percent of its total population considering each individual requiring two shots. Bangladesh has been using four vaccines: AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Sinopharm.

So far, the country has administered at least 53 million shots, enough to vaccinate around 16 percent of the country's total population, assuming that everyone needs two shots. Around 7.7 million shots of AstraZeneca have been administered to people in Bangladesh. 

Dhaka had started its national immunization drive early this year with  Covishield, Astra Zeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India. However, the plan derailed once India banned the export following the deadly second wave in April. Thereafter, Bangladesh mainly relied upon vaccines from China. 

Last month, India announced its plan to resume vaccines export in October. Around 300 million doses of vaccines are estimated to be produced in India this month. 

(SAM)