Bangladesh to deposit money to buy Oxford`s vaccine on Sunday

The Bangladesh government will deposit more than Tk 600 crore to a bank account on Sunday to buy the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Seram Institute of India. In return, Seram Institute will give a bank guarantee, the health department said.

The department said the Seram Institute, an Indian vaccine manufacturer, would take the money in advance as a guarantee. The rest of the money will be paid after the start of the vaccine supply.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, produced at India's Seram Institute, was approved by the government of India on Saturday for emergency use. 

The Bangladesh government has already signed an agreement with the Serum Institute of India to buy 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

According to the agreement, if they cannot supply the vaccine by next June, they will back the money to Bangladesh. If all goes well, Bangladesh will be able to bring the vaccine in the first week of February, said Prof Abul Basar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, director general of the health department.

The vaccine will be provided in Bangladesh by Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited. Beximco has already announced plans to sell the vaccine commercially as well as to the Bangladesh government as an 'exclusive distributor'.

The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to approve the use of Covishield, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, on December 30. The vaccine was later approved in Argentina.