A shipment of five lakh doses of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine will arrive in Bangladesh on 10 May.

"The vaccine will be transported to the country on our own ship," Health Minister Zahid Maleque told media in a briefing at the Secretariat today.

"Discussion is underway on the prices and number of doses to be purchased from the new sources," he added.

Mentioning that there are shortage of 13 lakh doses of Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine for second dose, the minister said, "We are trying to bring the vaccine soon. We have time in hand as the second dose can be administered even after three months."

Meanwhile, with uncertainty looming over supply of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from India's Serum Institute, the government approved the local manufacturing of China's Sinopharm and Russia's Sputnik V vaccines.