Cabinet Division Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam on Monday said the government would distribute 3 crore (30 million) doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca developed Covid-19 vaccine, free of cost, among people. 

He said it to reporters after a virtual cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in Secretariat on tackling the looming second wave of coronavirus and latest update on vaccine collection.

The cabinet secretary said Serum Institute of India will provide the Oxford vaccines to Bangladesh as per the tri-partite agreement signed by Serum, Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Bangladesh government on November 5.
 
On November 16, Finance Division allotted Tk 735,77,50,000 to the Health Division for procuring the vaccines. A purchase proposal has been prepared for the approval of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, he said.

"The government is paying for the 30 million shots of vaccine which will be given to people for free," Anwarul said.

When asked about possible corruption in vaccine distribution, the secretary said: "If anyone does major corruption, let us know. We will take swift action."

Responding to a query on who will get these vaccines, he said World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a guideline for distribution on priority basis. For example, frontline workers will get it first and then old people and children and so on.

BDST: 1615 HRS, NOV 30, 2020
AP/SMS