India will supply Vaccine to Bangladesh on a priority basis
On a priority basis, India will supply Covid Vaccine to Bangladesh, when it gets the nod and mass production starts, foreign secretory Harsh Shringla said on Wednesday.
“For us, Bangladesh is always a priority country”, Shringla said during a visit to Bangladesh during the pandemic.
Recently Bangladesh refused an offer by China to conduct human trials among Bangladeshi citizens of their Covid Vaccine. By the end of the year, Chinese Pharmaceutical company, SinoPharm, has promised that its vaccine would be available.
By lifting a ban on export of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for supply to many countries needing the antimalarial drug, India earlier earned a much needed brownie points. India has supplied the critical kit to a number of countries, with ramped up domestic production of PPEs in recent weeks.
India and China have been looking to increase their spheres of influence by promising vaccine doses to different countries, while many western countries have declared that the vaccines they produce or procure would be given to their citizens. Here the game is Vaccine diplomacy. India has already promised vaccine doses to Bhutan and the Maldives.
A day after meeting PM Sheikh Hasina, Shringla met his Bangladeshi counterpart Masud bin Momen on Wednesday.
“We are going to produce vaccines on a massive scale. India produces 60% of the world’s vaccines,”Shringla said. “When the vaccine is produced, it goes without saying that our closest neighbours, friends, partners and other countries will be part of that,” he added.
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