DHAKA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh began administering the China-donated COVID-19 vaccines to its medical students on Tuesday.
About 1,000 medical students from the country's four top leading medical colleges, namely Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mugda Medical College, took their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine thanks to a second batch of China-donated COVID-19 vaccines.
The final-year students from the medical colleges based in the national capital Dhaka received the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine following a ceremony held at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday morning attended by Health Minister Zahid Maleque and other officials.
Bangladesh's drug regulator in late April authorized the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in the Asian country.
According to a statement of the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka last week, the Chinese donation was made after Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a phone conversation with Bangladeshi Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen on the evening of May 21.
The Chinese embassy's announcement of the donation came nine days after the arrival of China's first donation in Bangladesh.
The Chinese embassy has expressed hope that the arrival of the second batch of Chinese vaccines will help the Bangladeshi government and people build a strong line of defense against the coronavirus epidemic.
Amid uncertainty over 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 on April 28.
Nearly 6 million people have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Bangladesh.
