DHAKA, U.S. Embassy in Bangladesh -- Chargé d’Affaires JoAnne Wagner welcomed the arrival of an additional three million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh, a gift from the American people. The vaccines arrived by aircraft on Monday, July 19, adding to a July 2-3 U.S. donation of Moderna vaccines earlier this month for a total of 5.5 million doses donated by the U.S. government and the American people, to date.

AK Abdul Momen, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zahid Maleque, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Lokman Hossian Miah, Senior Secretary of the Health Service Division, Toufiq Islam Shatil, Director General of the Americas Wing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other Government of Bangladesh officials joined Chargé Wagner to receive the shipment of vaccines, which come as part of the broader commitment by President Biden and the United States to lead the global COVID-19 response by donating 80 million doses of vaccine around the world.

“We are pleased to donate another three million vaccines to help Bangladeshis protect themselves from this terrible disease, COVID-19. The fight against this pandemic is not easy, but the United States will continue to stand with Bangladesh, in partnership, to fight together,” said Chargé d’Affaires Wagner. “This gift is donated without charge to save lives, and because it is the right thing to do. With the Eid ul Azha holiday nearly upon us, this is a truly appropriate time for us to
present this gift, in the hope that our collective efforts will help bring the blessings of peace and health to families across the country,” she added.

This summer, the United States will also begin allocating 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine it is providing to countries around the world through COVAX. This is the largest-ever purchase and subsequent donation of COVID vaccines by a single country and a commitment by the American people to help protect people around the world from COVID-19.

The United States has also already committed $2 billion to support the worldwide COVAX effort, with a pledge of an additional $2 billion, making the United States the world’s largest donor for equitable global COVID-19 vaccine access. In addition to vaccine donations, the United States continues to work closely with Bangladesh to protect the health of Bangladeshis and strengthen the government’s response to COVID-19, contributing over $84 million to date in COVID-related development and humanitarian assistance from USAID, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This assistance has helped save lives and treat individuals infected with COVID-19, strengthened testing capacity and monitoring, enhanced case management and infection prevention and control practices, and improved the supply chain and logistics management systems. U.S. support also focuses on protecting front line workers and increasing the public’s knowledge about COVID-19, including ways to protect themselves.