The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved an additional outlay of Tk 56.59 billion to fight the coronavirus by strengthening the health sector.The new funds include Tk 42.36 billion to import, transport, preserve vaccines and manage the immunisation of the population.
The rest of the funds will be used for establishment of infectious diseases units in 27 medical college hospitals and 62 district hospitals, increase the capability of the Directorate General of Drug Administration laboratory, and purchase medicines and medical equipment.A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the additional funds on Tuesday, boosting the Covid vaccine budget to Tk 67.86 billion.
The government cleared the Covid-19 Response and Preparedness Project worth over Tk 11.27 billion in April on an emergency basis. The ECNEC has now revised it, Planning Minister MA Mannan said at a media briefing after the meeting.The World Bank will finance $500 million of the additional allocation for the project while the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank or AIIB will provide $100 million. The government will use Tk 1.72 billion from its own funds, the minister said.
“We will get the vaccines as per the contract. We hope and believe that we will get the vaccines,” he quoted Hasina as saying in the meeting after a journalist asked him about reports on uncertainty about getting the vaccines soon, bdnews24.com.
“No matter what the process of bringing in the vaccines is, we will get it in time,” Health Secretary Md Abdul Mannan said, after a reporter asked whether the contract with the Serum Institute of India was between two governments or a tri-partite deal with Beximco Pharmaceuticals as one of the parties.
Abul Kalam Azad, a member of the Planning Commission, highlighted the features of the revised project in the briefing.Under the project, 30 million doses of the vaccine will be brought from Serum Institute, Azad said. It aims to vaccinate 137.6 million people aged over 18 years. The health workers, law enforcers, essential workers, media personnel and others will get the shots gradually on a priority basis.
Serum is manufacturing the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. Bangladesh has signed a deal with Serum for 30 million doses of the vaccine.The Directorate General of Drug Administration on Monday approved the import and emergency use of the vaccine.
According to Beximco, the sole supplier of the vaccine in Bangladesh, Serum will send five million doses in the first shipment in the first month after approval.The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will cost Bangladesh $5 or about Tk 425 per dose, Health Minister Zahid Maleque had earlier said.The government had earlier said it would give the shots for free, prioritising the frontline workers in the fight against Covid-19.❐
