Relying on One Vaccine Source Was a Wrong Move

Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader on Thursday said it was the government’s wrong decision to procure the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from one source without keeping any other alternative source.

In a statement, he also said Bangladesh showed its shortsightedness in international vaccine diplomacy.

The Jatiya Party chief said the government must take steps for importing and co-producing China's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine and Russia's Sputnik V.

Besides, he said, the government must continue its efforts to get AstraZeneca’s Covishield from India as many people are waiting to receive the second dose of it.

''Lakhs of people in the country are still anxiously waiting for the second dose of Covishield vaccine. It’s now proved that the decision to import only the vaccine of Oxford/AstraZeneca without keeping any other alternative source was wrong,'' he added.

GM Quader, also the deputy opposition leader in parliament, said there would have been a bright possibility of getting the vaccine from the domestic source at this time, had Global Biotech been given the full support in producing its Bangavax vaccine within the country.

He said the government can still take the necessary steps to promote the potential local vaccine producer Global Biotech.

The Jatiya Party chief said it is not clear whether the government has any specific plan regarding the coronavirus vaccine. ''People want to know the details about its vaccine plan.''