Shawdesh Desk:

China on Wednesday formally handed over five lakh doses of its Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh as gift while Dhaka is keeping its efforts on globally to get access to inoculation.

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming formally handed over the vaccines to Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and Health Minister Zahid Maleque at State Guest House Padma this noon.

Earlier, a C-130J transport aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 5:30am carrying the vaccines from China.

The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).

The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally.

“In view that COVID-19 is still wreaking havoc on people’s lives and disturbing social and economic activities in Bangladesh, the 500,000 doses of vaccine arrive just in time,” Chinese ambassador said earlier.

The envoy added that it is the latest outcome of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation, which again shows that “Our two peoples are in the same boat and we will stand with each other till the end of this battle”.