Govt releases Tk735.77cr for Covid-19 vaccine

The Finance Division under the Ministry of Finance has disbursed Tk735.77 crore — more than half of the total funds sought by the health ministry — to buy Covid-19 vaccines.

In this regard, the division issued a circular on Monday. Earlier, the health ministry wanted Tk1,271.55 crore to buy 30 million doses of prospective Covid-19 vaccines being developed by Novavax and Oxford University/AstraZeneca. A dose of the vaccine will cost $5 (Tk423.85) with an extra $1.25 for publicity expense.

For the 2020-21 fiscal year, the Finance Division earlier allocated Tk10,000 crore to fight the deadly coronavirus, said officials of the division.

Of the already disbursed Tk735.77 crore, Tk635.77 crore will be used for buying half of the 30 million vaccines, while Tk100 crore will be used for proper distribution of the vaccine across the country, reads the circular.

But the Finance Division has put forth five conditions.

First, the disbursed fund will be used to procure vaccines and cold chain equipment (to transport and store vaccines) and AD (Auto Disable) syringe safety boxes.

Moreover, the Health Services Division will have to send purchase documents to the Finance Division within a month. The bank guarantee will be finalised with advice from the division.

The Health Services Division of the health ministry will get its proposal to purchase the vaccines approved at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and the Cabinet Committee on Public Procurement, adds the circular.

Contacted, Health Secretary Md Abdul Mannan said, “People here need to get the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on a priority basis.

Division disbursed the first instalment amounting to more than Tk700 crore,” said the secretary, hoping that the rest of the funds would be disbursed soon.

The government last month signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bangladesh's Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd to procure 30 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from Serum.

The vaccine, Covishield, is being developed by the University of Oxford in collaboration with AstraZeneca and the SII. After the vaccine is developed, the SII will provide 30 million doses in the first phase, and Beximco Pharmaceuticals will bring those to Bangladesh.

Dr Mozaharul Haque, former advisor of the World Health Organization (WHO), said each nation is trying its best either to produce vaccines or procure those from the global market.

“But before applying the vaccines to the human body, it has to be ensured that those are safe and effective,” he added.

WHO, in its fair allocation mechanism for Covid-19 vaccine through the COVAX facility proposal, said that 20% priority group of the total population will get the vaccine in the first phase.

Most of the healthcare professionals and other frontline workers, population beyond 65 years of age, and people with co-morbidity are on the list of first priority.

The former WHO adviser, however, said there is no chance of getting a free vaccine here, but poorer countries have the opportunity to get vaccines with the global vaccine alliance Gavi’s funding, which includes Bangladesh.

On Monday, Bangladesh reported 21 deaths from Covid-19 and 2,139 new positive cases.

With this, the number of positive cases now stands at 434,472 and the number of deaths reached 6,215, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).