DHAKA, Dec 30, 2020 (BSS) – Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque today said Bangladesh will collect five to six crore COVID-19 vaccine doses, developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, by June next year.
“The UK government has given approval to COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca… We will get the vaccine soon after getting approval from the WHO (World Health Organization),” he told a function at the BCPS auditorium in Mohakhali in the city, an official release said.
Secretary of the Health Service Division Md Abdul Mannan, Secretary of Health Education Division Md Ali Noor, among others, were present at the function with Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam in the chair.
Maleque said, “This is good news for us as the UK government has given approval of COVID-19 vaccine… Bangladesh will collect the vaccine through the Serum Institute of India (SII).”
On December 13, an agreement was signed for collecting three crore COVID-19 vaccine doses developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.
Under the agreement, Bangladesh government will get three crore COVID-19 vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India. Bangladesh would get 50 lakh vaccines per month from the institute.
“The vaccine of the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca is suitable for our weather condition….we will collect three crore vaccine in phases,” he said.
On November 5, a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed for collecting these three crore COVID-19 vaccine doses from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. The MoU was signed among the Bangladesh Government, Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BPL) and the Serum Institute of India (SII).
The health ministry sources said 1.5 crore people will be administered by these three crore vaccine doses. As each person needs to be vaccinated twice they said, adding 50 lakh people in the country will be administered per month.