The government will initially distribute 3 crore Covid-19 vaccine among the people free of cost.
Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam broke the news at a press briefing at the secretariat on Monday, following a virtual cabinet meeting which was presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He said, “The government is ready to import some 30 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines jointly developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. These vaccines would be distributed among the people free of cost.”
“The vaccines would be provided prioritising World Health Organization (WHO) protocol,” he added.
He said the government on November 5 last signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd to collect the three crore doses of the Oxford-AtraZeneca SARS-CoV-B2, AZD1222 vaccine.
The Finance Ministry on November 16 initially allocated some Tk 735.77 crore against the Health Service Division to procure the Covid-19 vaccine. “The draft of a tripartite procurement agreement has already been prepared,” he said.
The cabinet secretary also said that the government is planning to impose jail terms for people not wearing masks.
“ The government will be monitoring the situation closely for 7-10 days. If it doesn’t improve, the decision of imprisonment and imposing maximum fine would be enforced," he said.
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