AHM Mustafa Kamal

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday said that the country must get back the money it had paid to Serum Institute of India if the company finally failed to supply the Covid vaccine as per the deal.

He said that the Indian company should supply the vaccine, developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured by Serum in India, to Bangladesh in line with the contract made as per international rules and regulations.

He asked whether any country embezzled money from other countries in  violation of international contacts.

Mustafa made the comments while answering to a number of questions from reporters on the uncertainty over the import of the vaccine from Serum following a ban on export of the item by the Indian government since March.

He was speaking virtually after a meeting of the cabinet committee on the government purchases.

The government paid Tk 1,455.08 crore to Serum in advance for the procurement of 3 crore doses — 50 lakh a month — of the vaccine by June.

Serum has sent only 70 lakh doses until February, creating a shortage of vaccine doses and suspension of the first jab in Bangladesh. 

Mustafa, however, said that negotiation was still on with Serum for resumption of the vaccine import.

The next course of action will be decided only if the present deal is scrapped, he said.

The finance minister said that depending on a single source for a sensitive item like the coronavirus vaccine was not good at all.

There should always be alternative sources, he said.

The country is negotiating with Russia and China for getting Covid vaccines from them.

On April 28, the government decided to manufacture Russian Sputnik V and Chinese Sinopharm’s Covid vaccine locally after the supply of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from Serum had become uncertain.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs following a proposal of the health ministry a day after the government had given the emergency use authorisation for the Sputnik V.