Health Minister Zahed Maleq told the media after the signing of the agreement that the vaccine has proved safe during trials in different countries and it is suitable for Bangladesh, reports the news agency UNB. He said the government is also in talks with other countries to procure more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for procurement of 3 crore doses of the Oxford/ Astrazeneca vaccine. The vaccine will be delivered in six instalments of 50 lakh doses each.

Earlier, on November 15, a tripartite MoU was signed between SII, Bangladesh pharmaceutical company Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BPL) and the government of Bangladesh for the procurement of the Oxford/Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

In the meanwhile, Bangladesh reported 32 more deaths due to Coronavirus on Sunday taking the death toll to 7052. According to the latest figures released by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 1355 new cases and 3393 recoveries were also reported over the last 24 hours. The total number of people infected by Coronavirus in Bangladesh now stands at 4.9 lakh. Recovery rate in the country is 85.80 per cent.