Government of Bangladesh decides to make coronavirus vaccines available for all citizens once those are procured reports The Daily Star.

The daily said that the government has decided to administer Covid-19 vaccines to all the citizens free of cost once those are procured.

As per the decision at a high-level meeting recently, the government will purchase vaccines as soon as those are out in the market and administer those to all like it does under the existing immunisation programmes, said finance ministry officials.

The finance ministry has already sought $2 billion in financial assistance from four development partners to purchase, store, transport and administer the vaccines.

It has written to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, seeking from them $500 million each.

In the letters to the multilateral lenders, the ministry said the government decided to procure and administer the vaccines at its own cost.

It also mentioned that large-scale commercial production of the vaccine is expected by the end of this year.

"In this context, a major initiative is afoot to import vaccines to Bangladesh in order to make the vaccines available for all the citizens," the ministry wrote.

Bangladesh also could get 20 percent of the vaccines it needs from the WHO and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation under the COVAX Facility, a mechanism designed to guarantee rapid, fair and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines worldwide.

COVAX currently covers nine vaccine candidates, and its aim is to secure supply and delivery of two billion shots by the end of 2021 to over 170 countries that have signed up for vaccines.