Govt to buy each dose of Oxford vaccine at Tk 424 from India

GBNEWS24 DESK//

The government will buy some three crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines, called ‘Covishield,’ from the Serum Institute of India at a cost of Tk 1,271.55 crore.

Buying each dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Instutute of India will cost Tk 423.85 or 5 US dollar.

The approval of buying the vaccine was taken at a virtual meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) on Thursday with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

Briefing reporters virtually after the meeting, Kamal said the day’s meeting approved a total of eight proposals involving an overall cost of around Tk 2,059.42 crore.

Of the total cost, he said, around Tk 1,870.82 crore will come from the Bangladesh government portion while around Tk 188.60 crore from the local banking sources as loan.

He said the Health Services Division under the Ministry of Health will procure the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccines.

The finance minister said it’s a good thing that the Indian vaccines have already started arriving in the country and subsequently the country’s people will be vaccinated.

India today formally handed over 20 lakh doses of ‘Covishield’ (Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India) as “gift” to Bangladesh at a ceremony at State Guest House Padma in Dhaka on Thursday.

Kamal said once all eligible people of the country are vaccinated, they would feel good and thus they would be able to give their utmost efforts towards economic progress of the country.

Answering to a question, the finance minister said, “Considering my age, I will definitely take that vaccine which will be available at the earliest.”

Replying to another question, he said if the private companies are allowed to import vaccines, then those would have to arrange at their own financing.