Partial disruption in the vaccination process due to reliance on Chinese vaccines

Bangladesh has faced several challenges in fighting the pandemic, the key one is securing vaccines for citizens continuously, especially after the country declared this year to be the year of vaccination, as several countries donated large quantities of COVID vaccines to Bangladesh, mainly the United States, which donated about 16.8 million doses of Pfizer vaccine as gifts. China offered the vaccines to Bangladesh as a gift, however, the latter refused due to several criticisms about it, thus it purchased big quantities of Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines for the emergency, yet the amount of payment is unknown. According to Dr. Lelin Choudhury, Specialist in Public Health and Preventive Medicine, the government’s reliance on the Chinese vaccine only rather than on alternative sources caused delays and disruption in the vaccination process. It is reported that the government of Bangladesh has spent more than Tk 19,000 crore on vaccines, having purchased 21 crore doses and planning to acquire another 8 crore doses.