Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming (left) formally hands over the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine to Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen (right) and Health Minister Zahid Maleque (centre) at the state guest house Padma in Dhaka on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 BSS

The World Health Organization has listed the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use

China has handed over half a million doses of its Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine to Bangladesh as gift while Dhaka is keeping its efforts on globally to get access to inoculation.

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming formally handed over the vaccines to Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and Health Minister Zahid Maleque at the state guest house Padma on Wednesday noon.

Earlier, a C-130J transport aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force arrived in Dhaka at 5:30am carrying the vaccines from China.

Also Read - Half a million doses of Sinopharm vaccine reach Dhaka

The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).

The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally.

"In view that Covid-19 is still wreaking havoc on people's lives and disturbing social and economic activities in Bangladesh, the 500,000 doses of vaccine arrive just in time," the Chinese ambassador said earlier.

The envoy added that it is the latest outcome of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation, which again shows that "Our two peoples are in the same boat and we will stand with each other till the end of this battle."