Serum to give Bangladesh 1-year bank guarantee on vaccine deal

The Serum Institute of India (SII) will provide a one-year bank guarantee to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for its supply of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines to Bangladesh.

Since the per unit price of the vaccine is going to be $4, with a supply of 30 million vaccines, the health ministry will encash a total of $120 million if the SII is unable to supply the aforementioned number of doses within December 31, 2021.

If the SII is unable to supply a specific amount of the vaccine doses, then the health ministry will be able to encash a sum of money proportional to the price of that.

The Finance Division gave its consent on Monday for the encashment if the Indian firm fails to supply the 30 million vaccine doses.

Joint Secretary of Finance Division Dr Mohammad Abu Yusuf signed the consent paper.

Four days ago, Health Minister Zahid Maleque had said that Bangladesh has completed all procedures to bring coronavirus vaccines from India, and that 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will arrive at the end of January.

The health minister also said another 60 million vaccine doses would come through the World Health Organization's COVAX program by May-June.

Earlier on December 16, the government of Bangladesh, SII, and Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited signed the vaccine purchase agreement.

On November 10, the finance division disbursed Tk735.77 crore from the funds allocated to fight Covid-19 in the budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

The government allocated Tk10,000 crore this fiscal year to fight the deadly coronavirus.