Hungary turns down Dhaka’s vaccine offer

A Hungarian newspaper reported that it was Bangladesh that offered the East European country 5,000 doses of a coronavirus vaccine.

The statement contradicts Bangladesh's foreign affairs State Minister Shahriar Alam's claim that it was Hungary that requested for the 5,000 doses.

Speaking on the thanksgiving motion on the president's speech at parliament on January 31, Shahriar Alam said Hungary and Bolivia requested Bangladesh to give them the vaccine doses.

"Hungary has requested us for 5,000 shots of Covid-19 vaccine. We will provide them with the vaccine from the stock we have. The prime minister and the ministry of health will decide on Bolivia's request," he said.

Hungarian newspaper, Hungary Today, yesterday reported that Bangladesh offered to send 5,000 shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as a token of gratitude for the 500 burn and restorative plastic surgeries performed pro bono by Hungarian doctors of the Action For Defenceless People Foundation, as well as the successful separation of Siamese twins, Rabeya and Rokaiya, in Bangladesh.

"We thanked them for the offer, but will not accept it," Hungary's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade wrote to pro-government Magyar Nemzet without explaining why Hungary wouldn't accept the offer.

Contacted, Shahriar Alam yesterday texted to The Daily Star: "I don't want to comment further on this matter".

Bangladesh is procuring the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced at the Serum Institute of India. Fifty lakh shots, purchased by the government, and another 20 lakh sent as a gift by India have arrived in the country. Another 2.5 crore doses are expected to reach the country over the next five months.

Also, Bangladesh will get 1,27,92,000 doses from the COVAX programme, led by the World Health Organization and Gavi. Hungary is the European Union's first member to approve China's Sinopharm vaccine, sealing a deal on Friday for 5 million doses, just a week after becoming the first EU member to buy Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, reports Reuters.