The Serum Institute of India has been paid for 1.5 crore doses of coronavirus vaccine and they have no right to stop supply of vaccines after taking money, said Nazmul Hasan Papon, managing director of Beximco Pharmaceuticals.
He made the remark after taking the second dose of covid-19 vaccine at Kurmitola General Hospital on Saturday.
He said, “We had paid in advance for 1.5 crore doses of vaccines, while we received only 70 lakh doses. The Serum Institute is yet to deliver 80 lakh doses. The government should speak out loud about the vaccine.”
Papon also said, "The government should assert clearly that we should be given the vaccine as we paid in advance for it. We paid for 1.5 crore doses of vaccines and Serum has no right to withhold the supply. It is time to evaluate that India is a friend of Bangladesh. Sweet words will not work. Our due rights must be ensured.”
Serum Institute of India chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla in an interview with Indian television NDTV on Wednesday said that there was no guarantee of vaccine export and at the moment. He also thought that they should not look at exports in the next two months during such a transition.
"Maybe in June-July we can start exporting a small number of vaccines again. But at this moment we will prioritise our country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in a virtual press conference on Saturday said that the government had pushed the entire nation into a terrible health risk by giving the exclusive benefit of vaccination to a particular business house.
He also said, "If we had plans to buy vaccines from alternative sources from the very beginning, we would not be in such a hazardous situation today. This is what we have been saying from the beginning."
He asked the government to collect enough vaccines from other sources immediately.
