‘Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine’s approval a good news for us’

Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque on Wednesday voiced satisfaction as the Oxford-AstraZeneca developed Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for use in the United Kingdom.

“It is of course a good news for us. We will get the same vaccine by mid-January next year,” Zahid Maleque said this while addressing a programme at Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS) auditorium in Dhaka this afternoon.

The government inked a deal with Serum Institute in India on November 5, to get the Oxford-AstraZeneca designed Covid-19 vaccine and the vaccine has been approved for use in the UK, the minister said.

Alongside India, Bangladesh will be given the vaccine at the same time, Maleque said adding that more five to six crore doses of vaccine will be given by the World Health Organisation by June in 2021.

The country will be much safer with the application of five to six crore vaccines if it is not required for around 40 percent of total population aged below 18 and 35 lakh expected mothers in the country, he said.

Bloomberg, a research institute in the United Kingdom, in its report says Bangladesh ranks above all in South Asian countries and 20 in the world in terms of the GDP growth amid the pandemic pf corona virus.

The programme was organised on this occasion and the health minister took part in the programme virtually as the chief guest.

In his speech, Maleque said, “Such recognition will remain as a great inspiration for us in dealing with the pandemic.”