The Government of Japan has decided to provide approximately 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines manufactured in Japan, through the COVAX facility, to Bangladesh, as part of assistance by Japan to contribute to the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 in Bangladesh. On July 23, approximately 250 thousand doses of those will be airlifted from Japan to Bangladesh.
Since the latter half of June, the number of new infections of COVID-19 in Bangladesh has been sharply increasing, but the inoculation rate of COVID-19 vaccine stays low at about 6.7 percent of the population. Under such situation, the administration of vaccines is an urgent issue for the Bangladesh government.
The vaccines we provided are expected to contribute to the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 in Bangladesh. Japan will continue to provide various assistance in cooperation with relevant countries and international organizations towards the earliest convergence of COVID-19.
[Note] COVID-19 situation in Bangladesh
As of July 20, 1.117 million confirmed cases and 18 thousand deaths have been reported in Bangladesh. Daily confirmed cases have surged since the latter half of June due to the appearance of coronavirus variants. The number of newly confirmed cases has been at a high level of over 10 thousand since July. Approximately 11.3 million doses of vaccine have been administrated in Bangladesh, and only about 6.7 percent of the population has completed the vaccinations. This grant of vaccines is a response to the urgent situation where there remain those without any prospects of receiving the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.