A report in the New Nation on Friday said about 12 lakh people are worried about the second dose of vaccination as shortage of stock and uncertainty of supplies make headlines. The crisis has developed as India is failing to supply the contractual jabs – the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to Bangladesh. As per agreement the Serum Institute of India is obliged to supply the vaccine — about 30 million doses — five million doses per month. But India’s failure is causing uncertainty to roll out the nation-wide vaccination programme.
It appears that the Bangladesh government blind dependence on India resulted in this crisis. Bangladesh had wanted to keep open the Chinese supply source as well but India pressured Dhaka to abandon it. The worries about supply shortage is only growing as a spokesman of the directorate general of Bangladesh health services told this newspaper Thursday that there is no news of immediate supply of the jab by India which is citing its supply shortage to meet the domestic need at a time when India is taking the heaviest death tools daily from the pandemic.
What seems to be unusual is that Bangladesh government paid India in advance for the jab in which a local powerful business firm entered as a third party in the contract giving it the look of a private business. Bangladesh has so far received 7 million doses, besides 3.3 million as partnership gift although delivery of over 1.5 crore doses were committed up to March, relevant information suggest.
As per report the health minister has no new information how to mitigate the supply crisis while some people within the ministry is minting illegal fortune. A female journalist was arrested last week who was working to unearth the mounting corruption. Meanwhile Bangladesh foreign minister has phoned his Indian counterpart on Tuesday to request him to supply the contractual vaccine but in vain. The foreign minister has also requested the US government for supply of vaccine and also trying to procure it from other European sources.
It is no surprise that isolated and incompetent governments cared to get sufficient vaccines for saving lives our people. The government of bureaucrats is to lack leadership and human consideration. Money business is their business.
