NBFI workers also to get vaccine priority

Like bank employees, workers of non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) will also be prioritised for Covid-19 vaccines.

The Bangladesh Bank has directed NBFIs to send their lists of employees, via e-mail, to the Financial Institutions Department (FID) of the Finance Ministry, on an urgent basis.

As per the FID guidelines, the Financial Institutions and Markets Department (FIMD) of the central bank issued a circular in this regard on Monday.

Although the Finance Ministry's FID instructed that the employee lists had to be submitted by 21 January, the central bank's FIMD circular directed the NBFIs to submit their lists "on an urgent basis" instead of mentioning a specific deadline.

When contacted, sources at the Bangladesh Bank said the issuance of the circular was delayed as the central bank received the finance ministry's guidelines after the list submission deadline had ended.

The sources claimed that although the deadline for submitting the lists has passed, one or two more days will still be available. That is why the circular mentioned the words "on an urgent basis."

With an aim of protecting frontline workers, the government has made a list, prioritising different sectors for the Covid-19 vaccine.

The list includes: doctors, healthcare workers, law enforcement officers, media workers, and bank employees. After banks, employees of non-bank financial institutions have now also been included on the list.

On 20 January, the Indian government gave two million Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines to Bangladesh as a gift.

Additionally, the first consignment of five million Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines, purchased from the Serum Institute of India, reached Dhaka on 25 January (Monday).