Fakhrul urges PM to take vaccine first

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to receive the Covid-19 shot first to end people's doubts about it.

 "My suggestion to the prime minister [Sheikh Hasina] is that you take the first shot. And, tell people that there is nothing to fear about. Only then, will return people's confidence," Fakhrul said at a discussion at the National Press Club, marking the historic Mass Upsurge Day.  

Commenting that people do not have confidence in the Covid-19 vaccine, the BNP secretary general said the Queen of the United Kingdom has taken the vaccine to dispel people's doubts regarding inoculation.

Fakhrul said the government's main goal was to line its pockets with money from Covid stimulus packages. The government is now doing the same thing with the vaccine as it did with regard to coronavirus tests.

"The government is playing tricks on people's lives," he said.

The BNP leader said the country needs a people-oriented government that will come to power and establish people's rights. "We have to unseat the present government by forming a unity for a mass uprising."

Noting that Covid vaccine doses bought at a high price, Gonoshasthaya Kendra Trustee Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury said Europe is buying the same vaccine at $2 per dose and India at $2-2.5, but Bangladesh is buying that at $5. Because a private company is making money as a middleman.

 Zafrullah alleged that a special company is being given the facility to buy the vaccine.

"The government is going in the wrong direction. The private sector should not be allowed to procure the vaccine. The moral responsibility of the government is to correct its mistake regarding vaccination," he added.

Presided over by Nagarik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna, the discussion was addressed, among others, Chairman of Kalyan Party Major General (retd) Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, Acting Convener of SammilitaPeshajibi Parishad Shawkat Mahmud, and Chief Coordinator of GanaSanghati Andolan Jonaid Saki.