Finance

Bangladesh to buy vaccine worth Tk 1271 crore from India Covid-19 Vaccine
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Bangladesh to buy vaccine worth Tk 1271 crore from India

Bangladesh Live News | @banglalivenews | 22 Jan 2021, 11:45 am

Dhaka, January 22: The Cabinet Committee on Public Procurement has given final approval to purchase three crore doses of corona vaccine at a cost of Tk 1,271 crore through direct procurement from India.

The purchase proposals were approved at a virtual meeting on Thursday (January 21). The meeting was chaired by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal and was attended by members of the committee, senior secretaries of cabinet departments, secretaries of concerned ministries and senior officials.

The Finance Minister said, "Under the Department of Health Services, the Covid-19 vaccine (Oxford-AstraZeneca, SARS-Cov-2 AZD 1222) has been approved to be procured directly from the Serum Institute of India for emergency use at a cost of Tk 1,271.55 crore."

Responding to a question about the vaccine, he said, "The vaccine has already arrived. It is good that the vaccine is coming. Many of us are older, we need the vaccine. If we all get the vaccine, we will feel better and more focused. We believe we can and will be successful."

At the end of the meeting, Additional Secretary to the Cabinet Dr. Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal outlined various aspects of the approved purchase proposals.

"The vaccine has been purchased. Its purchase price is Tk 1,261.55 crore. The recommended bidder is Serum Institute of India," he said.

Earlier, on December 2, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave policy approval to buy the coronavirus vaccine.

Later, Additional Secretary to the Cabinet Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal told reporters, "In case of urgent need of the state, it has been approved in principle to purchase corona vaccine above the price limit mentioned in Rule 76 (2) of PPR, 2008."

"The proposal to buy the vaccine through direct purchase method has been recommended by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. Money will be discussed when it comes to the procurement committee. If it is more than Tk 5 crore, it goes to the purchase committee. For this, the proposal had to be sent to the procurement committee."