Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque has said Bangladesh will receive Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines in January.
"The UK government has given approval to COVID-19 vaccines 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 on Wednesday.
Maleque said, "This is good news for us as the UK government has given approval to COVID-19 vaccine… Bangladesh will collect the vaccine through the Serum Institute of India."
On December 13, an agreement was signed with the Serum Institute of India for procuring three crore COVID-19 vaccines developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.
Under the agreement, the Bangladesh government will receive three crore COVID-19 vaccines 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 to our weather….we will procure three crore vaccines in phases," he said.
On November 5, a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed for collecting these three crore COVID-19 vaccines 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.
The health ministry sources said 1.5 crore people will be vaccinated by these three crore vaccines as each person needs to be vaccinated twice.
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.