The government will distribute three crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford for free.
“In the first phase, the vaccine will be distributed among public at free of cost as per the WHO policy,” said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam while briefing journalists after a Cabinet meeting on Monday.
The prime minister joined the virtual meeting through a videoconference from her official residence Ganobhaban, while other cabinet members got connected from Bangladesh Secretariat.
The government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Beximco Pharmaceuticals and Serum Institute of India (SII) to collect three crore shots of Covid-19 vaccines, said the Cabinet Secretary, adding that under the MoU, the SII will provide Bangladesh with three crore doses of vaccine developed by Oxford.
The latest development of vaccine collection and the ways to deal with the second wave of Covid-19 were also discussed in the Cabinet.
The Finance division has released Tk 735.77 crore for procurement of Covid-19 vaccine.
Photo credit: Collected
News source: The Daily Observer
