Some of the 70 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses Bangladesh has so far received from the Serum Institute of India will expire in April while the others will run out of their validity in June, according to officials.

As many people have raised questions about the expiry dates of the vaccine doses the Directorate General of Health Services expected that the doses would be used within their validity dates.

According to the Expanded Programme of Immunisation manager Mowla Box, Bangladesh on January 21 received 20 lakh doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India as gift while on January 25 it obtained 50 lakh doses of the same vaccine from the Serum under a deal to buy three crore doses through Beximco Pharma over six months.

‘The vaccine doses have been produced and packed on various dates; some of them will expire in April and the others in June,’ said Mowla.

The EPI manager came  up with the statement when journalists asked the DGHS director general ABM Khurshid Alam about the vaccine expiry dates on February 6 at a press conference on the eve of the nationwide vaccination programme from February 7.

Khrushid asked Mowla to answer the question.

Although Mowla did not give specific expiry dates, New Age has seen an invoice of a vaccine shipment from the Serum, which shows that some of the vaccine doses will expire on April 14, some others on April 25 and the rest on June 3.

DGHS additional director general Meerjady Sabrina Flora told the press conference that they were considering the use of all the 70 lakh doses for the inoculation before their expiry.

DGHS spokesperson Mizanur Rahman told New Age on Wednesday that as growing number of people were now showing interest to get the vaccine, the doses would be used within their validity.

As of Thursday, over 10 lakh people registered for the vaccination while more than 5.42 lakh had already received the first dose.