Govt purchased vaccines worth Tk 3,000 crore within a short time: health minister
Health Minister Zahid Maleque today said the government has purchased Covid-19 vaccines worth about Tk 3,000 crore within a short time.
He shared the information during a Facebook Live press briefing in the meeting room of the health ministry around noon today.
"We are lucky, we have been able to order these vaccines," he said.
"There are many countries where Covid-19 vaccination programme has not started in a full swing yet. We have been able to do that and within a short period of time, the government has bought vaccines worth Tk 3,000 crore," he said.
There will also be a cost to bringing and keeping the vaccines and for the inoculation process, he added.
So far, 3.83 crore people have registered for the vaccines, he informed.
A total of 1.86 crore people took the first shot while 82 lakh people have taken the second dose. "We have 1.22 crore vaccines in our hands," he added.
"We have so far ordered 7.5 crore Covid-19 vaccines from China," he added.
"We received a proposal from the World Health Organization for 10.5 crore of vaccines. We have taken a decision to buy the vaccines in principle and made a deal in this regard," the minister said.
"In the last 10-15 days, Bangladesh has taken a decision in principle to purchase 16 crore vaccines. These vaccines will reach Bangladesh by December-January," he added.
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