Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday called on the government to make the COVID-19 vaccination road map public immediately.
‘The health minister yesterday said that the price of each dose of the COVID-19 vaccine would be Tk 426. But it is not clear whether the price would be paid by the government or the people,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a press conference at the Gulshan office of the party’s chairperson.
‘We demand that the government should immediately make public details of the vaccination road map. Vital questions such as how many vaccines will be collected, how those will be distributed, the price and how many people and who will get the vaccine should be answered in the road map,’ he said.
Demanding the vaccine for people free of cost, Fakhrul said that they had heard that a list had already been prepared for the elite and influential people who would get the vaccine first.
The list includes members of the Gulshan Club, Dhaka Club and Uttara Club, Fakhrul said.
‘Moreover, we have heard that another list was prepared including the names of high officials of the government and the ministers,’ he added.
But we do not know how the general people will get the vaccine and when they will get it, Fakhrul said.
‘Our party’s demand is that the general people should get the vaccines free of cost,’ Fakhrul said.
Farkrul raised concerns over the involvement of the local group BEXIMCO in bringing the vaccine from the Serum Institute of India, saying that the government could have brought the vaccine directly.
‘The government must make it clear why it is not buying the vaccine directly. Will the BEXIMCO get any commission and if yes, how much will it be? We want to know these terms clearly,’ he added.
‘The BEXIMCO is purchasing the vaccine first and then the government is buying the doses from it. So, why has it involved the BEXIMCO? Is it because the company’s owner is an adviser to the government?’ Fakrul asked.
The BNP has formed a committee, led by former health minister Khandakar Mosharaff Hossain, to monitor the vaccination process, he said.
The party will hold protest rallies across the country demanding resignation of the commerce minister Tipu Munshi for his failure to reign in price hikes of essentials, including rice, and the Election Commission for their failure to hold local government elections in a free and fair manner.
It will form human chains at thana level across the country on January 7 protesting at price hikes and will also form human chains in municipality and city levels demanding resignation of the Election Commission on January 10.
The programmes were finalised at a standing committee meeting of the party, held virtually on Saturday with acting chairman Tarique Rahman in the chair.
The government is going to procure three crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from its manufacturer Serum Institute of India through its local vendor Beximco Pharmaceuticals without any tender for 1.5 crore people, said health ministry officials.
According to the tripartite contract signed by the health ministry on November 5 with Serum and Beximco for buying the quantity, the government will pay for each of the doses $5, including $4 as price and $1 for carrying it maintaining the required temperature, at least one dollar higher than the price announced by AstraZeneca for each dose recently.
Serum Institute will pay its local agent Beximco Pharma for carrying the vaccines from the former’s warehouse to the Bangladesh government’s warehouse as per the deal, said officials.
