Third party benefitted from govt not collecting Covid-19 vaccines directly: TIB

Uncertainty looms over nationwide Covid-19 vaccination since the government depended on a single organisation, the executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) said today.

"As a result, there is still no success in procuring vaccines despite the government trying different sources," Dr Iftekharuzzaman said while speaking at a virtual event on "Tackling Coronavirus Crisis: Good Governance Challenge in Covid-19 Vaccine Management."

He said the government has benefitted a third-party by assigning it for collecting vaccines which they could have done directly.

"In case of purchasing vaccines, the legal procedure has not been followed," he added.

At the event, Md Julkarnayeen, a research fellow at TIB, presented findings on Covid-19 management and vaccination.

Julkarnayeen said that the government could have saved Tk 231 crore if it collected vaccines directly from the Serum Institute of India.

In light of the seven parameters of good governance, he described mismanagement in controlling Covid-19 transmission and vaccination activities.

Dr Iftekharuzzaman also said the government was more active in controlling information rather than controlling corruption.

"The tendency to control information has been severe during Covid-19, and we have seen several such incidents including the one with journalist Rozina Islam. The government is hundred times more active in controlling information rather than controlling corruption," Dr Iftekharuzzaman said.