Shawdesh Desk:

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Monday expressed hope that Bangladesh will get the Covid-19 vaccine form Serum Institute of India (SII) on time.

Momen said that Indian Foreign Ministry does not know anything regarding Delhi’s decision not to export the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine for the next several months.

Mentioning that Dhaka contacted the Indian Ministry in the morning after getting information from the media about the ban on vaccine export, he said Delhi informed that they were not aware of the matter.

“They will update Dhaka after contacting the authorities concerned,” Momen said.

Serum Institute of India, the Indian manufacturer of the AstraZeneca/Oxford coronavirus vaccine, said on Sunday it intends to concentrate on meeting India’s own immediate demand in the next two months before exporting to other interested countries.

SII Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla said in an interview that the Indian government just wants to ensure that “the most vulnerable people of the country get it first”.