BD to get vaccine at Tk 425: Health Minister

Health Minister Dr Zahid Maleque has said Bangladesh will get Covid-19 vaccine within few days at a lower cost compared to other countries in the world.

“People will get Oxford vaccine at USD 5 or Tk 425. The first lot of this vaccine will arrive in Bangladesh within this month,” he said.

The Health Minister said this while addressing a views exchange meeting with the reporters in Manikganj on Saturday.

Zahid Maleque said, “The World Health Organization will approve the Oxford vaccine soon. This vaccine has negligible side effects. Orders for the vaccine have been confirmed for 60 million people in the country and more will be ordered in phases.”

According to the agreement, the Serum Institute will supply five million vaccines within one month of the Oxford vaccine approval through Beximco. After that, the organisation will give five million vaccines every month. Thus, a total of 30 million vaccines will be purchased from Serum.

The health minister also said a committee led by the Principal Secretary to the prime minister was working to formulate a list of persons, whom would be the first in getting vaccine.

Globally, over 84 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 1.82 million have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.