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Finance Ministry has curtailed an amount of 836 crore taka from Health and Family Welfare Ministry’s Covishield vaccine procurement programme in extra expenses including travel, training, survey etc, an official of the health ministry said.
Expenses cut from entertainment 89.85 crore taka, publicity and advertisement 14.97 crore taka, transportation cost 93.30 crore taka, medication expenses 635.77 crore taka, training expenses 15.16 crore taka but 12.80 crore taka, travel expenses 6.76 crore taka, health security expenses 3.38 crore taka, survey 0.95 crore taka and medical allowance 0.21 crore taka.
The official of the health ministry said, “It may not be proper to run the Covid-19 vaccination programme in the country without an advisement, training and survey in the country.”
Health ministry is unlikely to run a vaccination programme against possible coronavirus infected people without a survey of specific areas for selected vulnerable people, the official also said.
Finance division official said the government is now spending a huge amount of fund against Covid-19 infection but we want proper use of funds for running vaccination programme.
As a result, some of the expenses related with vaccination programme which has been dropped from the health ministry proposal to procure and vaccinate the most vulnerable people in Bangladesh amid coronavirus pandemic.
Health ministry proposal to procure 30 million doses of vaccines approved the second week of November, the official also said.
According to health and family welfare ministry the vaccination programme, the total cost to about 30 million doses of this coronavirus vaccine would amount to 1,589.45 crore taka for Bangladesh. But on November 10, the Finance Division only allocated 735 crore taka (around $87 million) to purchase the vaccine.
Finance Division has slashed the expenses of vaccination programme of Bangladesh in the travelling, training, survey, hiring charges, health security expenses, and publication and advisement.
Health and family welfare ministry sources said Bangladesh is lagging behind in purchasing, transporting, marketing, storing and applying vaccines for the deadly coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world, even neighbouring India, has almost completed its preparations. However, Bangladesh has not yet started the process of recruiting volunteers for this important work.
Though the training plan for the health workers has been fixed, the training has not started yet. Auto Disable (AD) syringes for vaccination were also not purchased for Covid-19 vaccination programme. The work of collecting safety boxes and other equipment for transporting vaccines is also going on slowly. It has not yet been decided where the vaccine will be stored after it arrives in the country.
A top source of the health ministry said that the coronavirus vaccination programme will be conducted under the expanded immunization programme or EPI of the Department of Health. However, those involved in EPI activities in districts and upazilas have been asked to be ready.
But no details were given on how they would conduct the event, what kind of preparations would be required, according to sources in the health ministry.
According to a health ministry document sent to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, the country is now going to buy a dose of Covishield vaccine for $6.25, up 25% from the cost estimated earlier.
Covishield has been developed by the University of Oxford in collaboration with AstraZeneca and the Serum Institute of India (SII).
Earlier, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had proposed to buy a dose of the vaccine for $4 plus $1for delivery cost and people will have to pay $5 for each dose.
Earlier, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said, “We hope that the country will receive Covid-19 vaccines by the next month.”
He also said the price per dose of the vaccine hasn’t yet been fixed.
“We have given serious thought on the plan that the people of Bangladesh should get Covid-19 vaccines for free,” the minister said adding that they are now working on receiving the Covid-19 vaccine once it is available in the international market.
As per the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the health ministry and SII, the value of each dose Covishield was estimated to be $5. But now, with other expenses, it will reach $6.25 for a single dose, according to the health ministry’s proposal to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which was approved last Wednesday.
Using Covishield, the government would be able to vaccinate 15 million people as two shots of the vaccine are needed for one person, the proposal reads.
Covishield is undergoing phase-2 of clinical trials in India. CEO of SII Adar Poonawalla said earlier last month that the trials in India will complete by December 2020.
According to various media reports, Covishield’s double dose is the cheapest coronavirus vaccine that could be available — costing about €2.5 or ($3) per dose and requiring just a normal fridge for storage.
In contrast, Moderna's vaccine must be preserved at -20 degrees Celsius, while Pfizer's one must be stored at -70 degree Celsius.
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