Bangladesh will administer at least 12 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines by next January, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday.

The minister said "There is no shortage of vaccines in the country. There are over one crore vaccines in stock. All the people of the country can be vaccinated as per the instructions of the prime minister."

The minister made this remark while inaugurating DBL Pharmaceuticals at Gazipur on Sunday.

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Zahid said the government has bought 21 crore doses of vaccine. From there, at least three crore doses of vaccine will arrive this month. Same number of doses are expected to next month.

At least seven crore doses of the vaccine have already been administered. If this continues, it will be possible to administer at least 12 crore doses of vaccine by January next year. "If that is done, it will be possible to reduce the death rate from Covid-19 to zero," said the minister.

The minister also claimed there has been no shortage of medicines throughout the Covid-19 pandemic across the country. These medicines were also sufficiently available at the village level.

Bangladesh also exports medicines after meeting 98 per cent of the domestic demand, the minister added.

"Pharmaceuticals are going to be one of the biggest sources of foreign exchange in the country, after the RMG sector. However, we are going to form a new drug policy to ensure that there are no adulterated drugs in the country," said the minister.

He further said no one will be able to increase the drug price in the country's market unnecessarily because of the new policy.

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The minister also visited different parts of the drug company on the inaugural event accompanied by the member of the Parliament Dr Habib E Millat, Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) Maj Gen Mahbubur Rahman and DBL Pharmaceuticals Chairman Abdul Wahed.