Bangladesh started mass inoculation for the pandemic on February 7
The government is mulling allowing the private healthcare sector to import Covid-19 vaccine on their own, with certain rules in place, including the price of the vaccine, to be set by the health authorities.
Dr ABM Khurshid Alam, director general (DG) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), disclosed the matter on Monday afternoon, while speaking to reporters at his office in Dhaka.
“The government has decided to encourage the private sector to collect (import) the necessary doses of vaccine on their own,” he said.
But everything linked to this process – procuring the vaccines from a manufacturer at a specific price range, administering the jabs, and the fees – will be finalized by the government.
“However, the private sector will not be provided a single dose from the government stock,” the DGHS chief added.
Giving credit to the country’s private sector for treating Covid-19 patients and confirming new cases despite being allowed to do so quite late, he said it was expected that they would perform the same in the vaccination campaign.
“They would help us complete the mass vaccination on time,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, the DGHS chief, while addressing a program on the office premises, reiterated that the countrywide vaccination that started on February 7 would end on time.
On a separate note, he said they had asked the Ministry of Education to provide them with information of the registered teachers so they can be vaccinated soon.
Bangladesh received the first consignment of two million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII), as a gift from India on January 21.
Later on, the country received two consignments of vaccine carrying five million and two million doses, respectively.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the vaccination program on January 27, followed by a dry run the next day. But the nationwide campaign started on February 7 and till Monday, as many as 3,226,825 people were vaccinated with some 754 reporting minor side effects.
As many as 69,635 men and 46,665 women received their first shots on Monday alone.
According to the government, no fewer than 4,413,892 people completed their registration for their vaccine shots till 5:30pm on Monday.
