Health Secretary Abdul Mannan on Tuesday said that vaccines against the pandemic Covid-19 would be available in Bangladesh by February 2021 if everything goes well.
He also said that all preparations had been taken in the hospitals to deal with the second wave of coronavirus.
He was speaking at the "World AIDS Day" event at the National Theatre of Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka.
Earlier on Monday, the government announce that 3 crore (30 million) doses of vaccine would be provided free of cost among the people initially alongside taking tougher action to compel people wearing masks to check further spread of the virus.
“Three crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines, which are being procured primarily, will be given to the people free of cost,” Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told a news briefing at Bangladesh Secretariat emerging from a regular weekly cabinet meeting Monday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting from Ganabhaban through a video conference, while her cabinet colleagues attended it from Bangladesh Secretariat.
Anwarul added that the prime minister has already given consent to procure 3 crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII).
“The government has already allocated Taka 735.77 crore to purchase the vaccines,” he informed
“Front-liners, including the health workers and the police personnel, will get the vaccines first,” he added.
The health secretary on Tuesday said media personnel would also get priority in getting the vaccine as frontline fighters.
He said the government would also take the responsibility of the families of the doctors, who died during the coronavirus pandemic.
The global vaccine alliance – GAVI – earlier announced to provide 68 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by 2021.
