Dhaka, Dec 19 (FN Bureau) The US government has donated another 1.78 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh through COVAX. With this shipment, the United States has now donated a total of 18.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Bangladesh. The new doses help the Government of Bangladesh expand Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations for young people aged 12 and above, reaching all 64 districts across the country. The United States has been supporting Bangladesh’s national COVID-19 vaccination campaign. This includes training nearly 7,000 healthcare professionals to safely administer vaccines, donating cold-chain freezer trucks, and providing freezers and other equipment for health facilities to properly store and transport COVID-19 vaccines across the country. “We are proud to donate another shipment of Pfizer vaccines and help Bangladesh keep the momentum in getting as many people vaccinated as possible, especially the youth.
The United States will continue to donate millions more doses of Pfizer vaccines and stand together with Bangladesh in its aim to vaccinate 40 percent of the country’s eligible population by the end of this year,” said Ambassador Miller. The ongoing donations of Pfizer vaccines are part of the broader commitment by the United States to lead the global COVID-19 response by providing one billion doses of the Pfizer vaccine around the world—free of charge—through 2022. The U.S. government has also contributed over $121 million in COVID-19-related assistance to Bangladesh.
This assistance has saved lives through vaccination support; improved COVID-19 testing; infection and prevention control; treatment; and supply chain and logistics management systems. The United States has donated $4 billion to the worldwide COVAX effort, which includes support for ultra-cold chain storage, transportation, and safe handling of COVID-19 vaccines, making the United States the world’s largest donor for equitable global COVID-19 vaccine access.