Zahid Maleque, Bangladesh’s health and family welfare minister, has said that they would soon vaccinate university students on priority once the country gets enough vaccines. The move would help restart educational institutes. 

“After an agreement, we will receive (Chinese vaccines) throughout June, July, and August -- 50 lakh in each month. In the beginning, we will inoculate college and university students on a priority basis. We want them (students) to start normal study after being vaccinated,” he was quoted as saying by The Daily Star. 

He informed on Monday that the country would need to vaccinate around 50 million to control the spread of the Covid-19. 

The Bangladesh government has ordered 15 million vaccines from China. With that, it can inoculate 7.5 million people. Russia will also deliver 15 million vaccines to Bangladesh. Bangladesh. The country has also signed an agreement to locally produce the Sinopharm vaccine in Bangladesh.

Zahid informed that the government is already vaccinating medical students. The country is also considering procuring Pfizer vaccines. 

With Russia, the agreement is a government-to-government deal. Officials are also discussing plans to have an agreement for the co-production of vaccines in Bangladesh. However, the health minister, said the production would take time as it will require significant up-gradation in existing infrastructure. 

(SAM)