Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka Ito Naoki has reiterated that Tokyo will stand by Bangladesh in the fight against Covid-19 and will work together to contain the pandemic as soon as possible.
He made the comment while announcing the arrival of the fourth consignment of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Japan.
With that, a total 2,424,700 doses out of the 3,000,000 promised doses have arrived so far.
The ambassador said the final consignment would arrive on August 28.
Japan earlier committed to provide 3 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Bangladesh in phases under the COVAX Facility to meet the urgent needs of the country.
As part of that, the fourth batch, 781,440 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in Japan, arrived at Dhaka International Airport from Japan on Saturday.
The first consignment consisted of 245,200 doses, the second consignment 781,320 doses and the third consignment of 616,780 doses arrived on July 24, July 31 and August 3 respectively.
The ambassador said they plan to deliver another 634,920 doses on August 28 and “fulfill our commitment of over 3 million doses to Bangladesh”.
“This is purely for the sake of the Bangladeshi people. We hope this vaccine support will contribute to the Bangladesh government's efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Japan hopes that fair, equitable and comprehensive access to safe and effective vaccines will be ensured in Bangladesh,” he said.
“I would like to reiterate that Japan will stand by Bangladesh in the fight against COVID-19 and will work together to contain COVID-19 as soon as possible,” said Ito Naoki, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh.”
Jashim Uddin Khan, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, while receiving the vaccine on Saturday, said: “We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to the generous support from Japan. Japan is our best long-standing friend. We will effectively utilize the vaccines from Japan and make best efforts for the quick and extensive rollout of the vaccines for the people of Bangladesh.”