DHAKA:  The drug regulator of Bangaladesh has authorised the emergency use of China's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine. The announcement was made by the Major General Mahbubur Rahman, Director General of Bangladesh's Directorate General of Drug Administration.

"We've issued emergency use approval for the Chinese-made jab." Mahbubur Rahman further said hopefully within 1-1.5 weeks, Bangladesh will receive a batch of Sinopharm vaccine as a gift.

The Bangladeshi government on Wednesday gave the green light to a proposal of producing Chinese and Russian Covid-19 vaccines in the country. Bangladesh's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the proposal to produce the vaccines -- China's Sinopharm and Russia's Sputnik V.

Shahida Akhter, a senior Cabinet Division official, said on Wednesday that several leading Bangladeshi pharmaceutical firms in collaboration with the Chinese and Russian companies will produce the vaccines. The decisions came days after Dhaka suspended the first dosing of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on a supply crunch.

Amid uncertainty over the timely arrival of the next Covid-19 vaccine shipment from India, the Bangladeshi government halted administering the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine across the country from Monday. Nearly six million people have so far received the first dose of the vaccine in Bangladesh.

Biden Admn Delivers first emergency Covid-19 Assistance of USD 100M for India

China’s Sinovac Vaccine Approved by Indonesia for Emergency Use

China Donates 50K Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine to Bosnia and Herzegovina