Amid uncertainty over the supply of Covidshield, developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII), Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami said that India is ready to offer Covaxin, developed indigenously by Bharat Biotech. Bangladesh is currently looking to import vaccines from Russia and China.

“The high commissioner said besides the Covishield vaccine from Serum, the alternative that they have consistently been offering to export is Covaxin, which they offered not only for trial here in Bangladesh at their own cost but also for co-production,” Dhaka Tribune reported.

Bangladesh pharma major Beximco Pharmaceuticals had signed a deal with SII for supply of 30 million doses over a period of six months, starting from January.

“Bangladesh can choose all the options offered to it. It can choose some. But this is Bangladesh’s sovereign decision, not an Indian decision,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile, at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina highlighted the need for all nations to work together to ensure availability of Covid 19 vaccines across the globe. The leader added that the vaccines are global public goods and that the United Nations and other international institutions must play an active role to meet the demand of every country.

In a recorded speech at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), the Prime Minister said, "All nations need to work together to make the UN and other international organisations effective so that everyone's requirement of vaccines and medical requirement are met."

Medical experts and scientists have recently said tests have proved that Covaxin is effective even against the other variants of Covid 19 strains including the UK one.