Shawdesh desk:

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved on Wednesday a proposal in principle to follow the Direct Procurement Method (DPM) for procuring the Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines since it was a matter of urgent state necessity.

The approval came from the 24th meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in this year held virtually today with Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting virtually, Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal informed that according to the PPR, 2008, any public procurement proposal of over Taka five crore in a year would come before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

He said since a huge quantity of doses of COVID-19 vaccines would have to be procured at a time to face the pandemic, the meeting approved in principle the proposal for following the DPM method for procuring COVID-19 vaccines in line with the Section 76(2) of the PPR, 2008.

Earlier after the Cabinet meeting last Monday, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said that the government would provide 3 crore (30 million) doses of vaccine initially among the people free of cost alongside taking tougher action to compel people wearing masks to check further spread of the coronavirus in the country.

“Three crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines, which are being procured primarily, will be given to the people free of cost,” the Cabinet Secretary told a news briefing at Bangladesh Secretariat emerging from a regular weekly cabinet meeting on Monday.

Anwarul had also informed that the prime minister has already given consent to procure 3 crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII) while the government has already allocated Taka 735.77 crore to purchase the vaccines.