’India’s ban on vaccine export won’t affect deal’

In the wake of India’s ban on exportation of Covid-19 vaccine for several months, Health Minister Zahid Maleque, has called upon people to keep trust in the deal signed with the Serum Institute in India and assured them of getting the vaccine in due time.

“Terms and conditions of the agreement will not be ignored by any means. We are hopeful of getting the vaccine in due time,” Maleque told reporters after a technical committee meeting on vaccine held at his ministry office in Dhaka this noon.

“We are maintaining communication and we will be known the update. We will be able to erase the confusion in this regard by one or two days,” he told a questioner at the press conference.

About the India’s ban, the minister said, “It is a new problem. I heard it today. As I talked by this time, I hope the problem will be solved immediately.”

On information, Maleque said Bangladesh foreign ministry talked to Indian foreign ministry, India High Commission to Dhaka and Serum Institute’s local agent Beximco Pharmaceutical over the issue.

Citing the outcomes of the communications, Maleque said, “We are optimistic that there will be no problem as we have an international agreement. Apart from this, I am confident in our long-standing friendship relations with India.”

Responding to a query over the fund for the vaccine, the health minister said $120 million is in the pipeline to be handed over to the respective authority to get the vaccine in due time.

Besides based on permission, Health Division Secretary Abdul Mannan told the reporters that the India’s ban on vaccine exportation will not affect the government-to-government deal.

“I talked to the deputy high commissioner in Dhaka and it is informed that the ban, we are talking about, was imposed for some internal organisations of India,” the health secretary said.

“A government-to-government deal was inked. It is an international agreement. It will not be kept under the purview of the ban. Alongside, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier talked about three crore doses of vaccine,” he said.

India on Sunday asked Serum Institute not to allow the export of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for several months.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that the neighbour country will make a special arrangement to give the vaccine to Bangladesh in due time.

On information of the ban, Dhaka contacted to the concerned minister of India this morning and Delhi informed that they do not know anything about the matter, Momen told Business Insider Bangladesh.

However, the foreign minister expressed his hope that India would make a special arrangement so that Bangladesh can get the vaccine in due time.

“We have already talked to the Indian foreign affairs ministry and I am hopeful that we will get a positive result in this regard immediately,” the foreign minister said this while talking to the correspondent.