Health Minister: Covid-19 vaccination policy for private sector in the offing

The government is in the process of formulating a policy on the participation of the private sector in Covid-19 vaccination in the country. 

Health Minister Zahid Maleque was speaking at a press briefing after a meeting on Covid-19 vaccination plans at the Secretariat on Thursday afternoon.

From the process of vaccination to pricing — everything will be included in the policy, he said. 

“We will also fix which vaccines will be provided by which hospitals,” the health minister added.

Maleque continued: “The government has the capacity to store and preserve at least 140-150 million vaccine doses. So even if we get a shipment of 40 or 50 million doses shortly, we won’t have a problem preserving them.”

Mentioning that all measures had been taken to conduct a successful vaccination campaign, the minister said the government would inoculate citizens through state-owned hospitals.

“Arrangements have been made to keep about 425,000 vaccine doses in the cold room of every district level government hospital. In addition, there are 5-10 freezers at each of those hospitals and some 71,000 vaccine doses can be stored in them,” the minister said. 

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Initially, 344 teams will be involved in vaccination programs across the country. Each team will have six health workers, he told the press.

“Around 42,000 health workers are being trained for the vaccination drive. The Directorate General of Drug Administration will strictly monitor the vaccination program to ensure that there are no irregularities in the immunization process,” Maleque said. 

Medical Education and Family Welfare Division Secretary Md Ali Noor and several other high officials of the Health Ministry were present at the Secretariat meeting and also the press briefing.

Five million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India are expected to arrive in Bangladesh by January 25.

If everything goes according to the government’s plans, the vaccination program will begin from the first week of February, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.