Bangladesh to acquire vaccines thru' India's Serum Institute in January
Health and Spouse and children Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque have said Bangladesh might receive Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines in January.
"The UK government has given acceptance to COVID-19 vaccines produced by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca… We will get the vaccine soon after getting acceptance from the WHO (Environment Health Business)," he told a function at the BCPS auditorium in Mohakhali in the city on Wednesday.
Maleque said, "This is good news for us as the UK government has given approval to COVID-19 vaccine… Bangladesh will accumulate the vaccine through the Serum Institute of India."
On December 13, an agreement was signed with the Serum Institute of India for procuring three crore COVID-19 vaccines produced by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.
Under the agreement, the Bangladesh government will receive three crore COVID-19 vaccines from the Serum Institute of India. Bangladesh would obtain 50 lakh vaccines monthly from the institute.
"The vaccine of the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca would work to our climatic conditions….we will procure three crore vaccines in phases," he said.
On November 5, a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed for collecting these three crore COVID-19 vaccines from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. The MoU was signed among the Bangladesh Federal government, Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BPL) and the Serum Institute of India.
The health ministry sources said 1.5 crore persons will be vaccinated by these three crore vaccines as each individual should be vaccinated twice.
Secretary of medical Program Division Md Abdul Mannan, Secretary of Overall health Education Division Md Ali Noor, amongst others, were present in the function with Director Standard of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam found in the chair.
