Health Minister Zahid Maleque has said the the coronavirus vaccine will be made available to everyone in Bangladesh once the government gets the shots.
“The prime minister has ordered vaccination for everyone and we are moving forward with the plan to provide it to whoever needs it, whenever,” he said while inaugurating the surgery division and an operation theatre of Dhaka’s Sheikh Russel Gastro Liver Institute and Hospital on Thursday.
“The government has made the arrangements to follow her instructions,” Maleque said.
Bangladesh has inked a contract to receive 30 million doses of the vaccine, developed by the Oxford University in collaboration with AstraZeneca, from the Serum Institute of India.
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization or GAVI also assured Bangladesh of giving 680,000 doses for 20 percent of the population. The government is hoping to get its hand on these vaccines by January-February 2021.
The World Health Organization and GAVI are preparing for several months to distribute the vaccines to people in all corners of the world once the candidates are proved effective and safe.
