US donates another 1.5m Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines for kids

The US government donated another 15 lakh pediatric doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines to Bangladesh via COVAX to expand vaccination coverage to protect children ages 5-11 for the very first time.

This delivery marks the second shipment of US donated vaccines for young children this week, a press release of US embassy in Dhaka said on Monday. 

The total number of all US vaccine donations to Bangladesh reached to over 75 million (7.5 crore) doses.

More than two-thirds of all international COVID-19 vaccine donations to Bangladesh have come from the United States and the American people, it added. 

The United States continues to work closely with Bangladesh to support every facet of the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

This includes training to over 51,000 healthcare providers and other workers on safely administering vaccines to support Bangladesh's COVID-19 vaccination roll out across 64 districts.

The United States has also donated 18 freezer vans, 750 freezer units, and 8,000 vaccine carriers and helped transport 57 million doses of vaccines to remote areas - for direct administration of 47 million vaccinations.

In Bangladesh, the United States has contributed more than $140 million in COVID-19 related development and humanitarian assistance. Globally, the United States has donated $4 billion to support the COVAX effort, which includes support for ultra-cold chain storage, transportation, and safe handling of COVID-19 vaccines, making the United States the world's largest donor for equitable global COVID-19 vaccine access.