India will give 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as gift to Bangladesh. The vaccine is expected to arrive in Bangladesh by Thursday. This will be in addition to 30 million doses of the vaccine for which a tripartite agreement has been done between Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Serum Institute of India and the government of Bangladesh.

Health Minister of Bangladesh Zahid Maleque told reporters on Monday in Dhaka that the doses from India will arrive before the first shipment of the vaccine arrives from the Serum Institute of India (SII). The officials of the health ministry of Bangladesh are making preparations for receiving the vaccines from India.

The Health Minister said that the vaccination programme will be conducted in hospitals and diagnostic centres. He said that in case of any adverse effect of the vaccine, the government will provide treatment for the same. The government has planned to inoculate 5 million people every month after launching the vaccination drive. The Health Ministry has made elaborate arrangements for the vaccination programme. More than 42,000 health workers are being deployed all over the country and training programmes being conducted for them for the roll out of the vaccination programme from the first week of February.

Taking the cooperation in fighting COVID 19 further, India and Bangladesh are working together to train the trainers for the start of the vaccination programme. The inaugural virtual programme for the training of the trainer was conducted on Tuesday, said a tweet of the High Commission of India.