The United States has welcomed the first shipment of 106,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh.
The shipment was made possible through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a global initiative to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The United States recently announced an initial $2.0 billion obligation—of a total planned $4.0 billion—to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance to support the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, making the United States the largest donor for equitable global COVID-19 vaccine access.
This assistance builds on more than $1 billion in U.S. health assistance provided to Bangladesh over the past 20 years and over $76 million in COVID-19 response assistance since March 2020, according to a US embassy in Dhaka statement issued on Tuesday.
“The COVID-19 pandemic underscores that no nation can act alone against a global pandemic. The United States, Bangladesh, and global partners are working closely together to combat this pandemic,” said Ambassador Miller.
“We are committed to working shoulder to shoulder with the Government of Bangladesh to get through this unprecedented global health crisis and put systems in place so we are more prepared for and resilient in future crises,” Miller said.
The U.S. contributions to COVAX, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will support the purchase and delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the world’s most vulnerable and at-risk populations in 92 low- and middle-income countries.
This support is critical to controlling the pandemic, slowing the emergence of new variants, and helping to restart the global economy.
The United States has worked closely with Bangladesh to protect the health of Bangladeshis and strengthen the government’s response to COVID-19, contributing over $76 million to date in development and humanitarian assistance from USAID, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This assistance helped Bangladesh save lives and treat infected individuals; strengthen testing capacity and surveillance; enhance case management and infection prevention and control practices; improve supply chain and logistics management systems; increase public knowledge; train medical professionals; and ensure an effective roll-out of the vaccination campaign.
Additional U.S. COVID response assistance included supplying 100 state-of-the-art U.S. manufactured ventilators; gas analyzers to allow Bangladesh to produce its own ventilators; and tens of thousands of pieces of locally-produced personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers across Bangladesh, as per the statement.
