Shawdesh Desk: The United States has welcomed the arrival of 106,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to Bangladesh saying the US, Bangladesh and global partners are working closely together to combat this pandemic.

This shipment was made possible through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a global initiative to support equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines, said the US Embassy in Dhaka on Tuesday.

The United States recently announced an initial $2 billion obligation—of a total planned $4 billion—to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance to support the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, making the United States the largest donor for equitable global Covid-19 vaccine access.

“The Covid-19 pandemic underscores that no nation can act alone against a global pandemic. The United States, Bangladesh, and global partners are working closely together to combat this pandemic,” said US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl Miller.

“We’re committed to working shoulder to shoulder with the government of Bangladesh to get through this unprecedented global health crisis and put systems in place so we’re more prepared for and resilient in future crises.”

The US contributions to COVAX, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), will support the purchase and delivery of safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines for the world’s most vulnerable and at-risk populations in 92 low- and middle-income countries.

This support is critical to controlling the pandemic, slowing the emergence of new variants, and helping restart the global economy, said the US.

The United States has worked closely with Bangladesh to protect the health of Bangladeshis and strengthen the government’s response to Covid-19, contributing over $76 million to date in development and humanitarian assistance from USAID, the US Department of Defense (DOD), and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

This assistance helped Bangladesh save lives and treat infected individuals; strengthen testing capacity and surveillance; enhance case management and infection prevention and control practices; improve supply chain and logistics management systems; increase public knowledge; train medical professionals; and ensure an effective roll-out of the vaccination campaign.

Additional US Covid response assistance included supplying 100 state-of-the-art US-manufactured ventilators; gas analysers to allow Bangladesh to produce its own ventilators; and tens of thousands of pieces of locally-produced personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers across Bangladesh.