Speaking exclusively to Prasar Bharti after taking the COVID-19 vaccine in Dhaka, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr A K Abdul Momen expressed satisfaction that the Serum Institute of India (SII) is continuing with the supply of the vaccine as scheduled.

The Bangladesh government is continuing with the special vaccination programme for the diplomats of the foreign missions in Bangladesh. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Dr Momen along with several diplomats including from India, Britain and other countries took the vaccine shot at the Sheikh Russel National Gastroliver Institute.

Dr Momen said Bangladesh did a good job in controlling the spread of the coronavirus in the country which is reflected in the fact that the death toll has been around 8000 in the country. Now the death rate has fallen down to a single digit. He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina used a very innovative strategy from day one of the pandemics which really helped. Providing food to every house during the pandemic kept the nutrition level right, said the minister.

Commending Bangladesh for taking quick and effective steps in raising the number of testing centres, Dr A K Abdul Momen said that starting from the shortage of PPE kits, the country exported 8 million high-quality PPE kits to the USA with good support from the private sector.

Calling for cooperation to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Momen said that till everyone is out of the pandemic, it is not over. He said everyone has to work together in partnership and collaboration so that this pandemic is over for all the countries of the world.

Meanwhile, the vaccination drive in Bangladesh is moving ahead with full momentum. Close to 16 lakh people were vaccinated till Wednesday. Over the last several days, on an average, more than 2.20 lakh people are getting the vaccine shot in the country.

People are showing great enthusiasm for the vaccine which was launched on the national scale on Feb 7.