“We urge the President and the Prime Minister to follow the same path as the heads of state and government in other the countries of the world are doing. They're doing this to give confidence and trust to their people by receiving the first doses of the vaccine. Like them, take a bold step,” said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

He said, “If they do this, it’ll help dispel misconceptions about the vaccine. It’ll also make people interested in vaccination by removing their reluctance.”

The BNP leader made the call at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office.

Rizvi said a deep doubt has created in public minds with the Health Minister’s comment that common people, not the VIPs, will take the vaccine first.

Also Read: BNP: No ‘planning’ for proper distribution of vaccine

He said people will have confidence in receiving the vaccine if the vaccination starts from those who are at the highest level of the state.

“People will get the courage to take this vaccine if you (President and PM) are vaccinated first. People will also realise that you’re dedicated to their welfare and you truly love them,” the BNP leader observed.

He said their party hopes Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the vaccination programme by receiving the first shot on camera.

“If you don't take the first doses of the vaccine, people will understand that everything you do is hypocrisy and deception. Don’t make people a Guinea pigs of any other country’s laboratory tests. People won’t accept any such move. You want to see whether the poor people die by giving them vaccine first,” Rizvi said.

Also Read:  20 lakh doses of Oxford vaccine reach Dhaka as gift from India

On Thursday, the Indian government sent 20 lakh doses of the corona vaccine as a gift to Bangladesh while the country bought three crore doses of the vaccine from Serum Institute of India (SII) and the first shipment of 50 lakh shots is expected to arrive here on January 25.

Rizvi said people have doubt whether the vaccine sent by India is the one developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca or by Indian Bharat Biotech.’

“As far as we know, India has so far approved two vaccines against Covid-19 in their country. One is Covishield, developed by Oxford University and Oxford-AstraZeneca in the UK while the other is Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech. Both are being produced by the Serum Institute. But it’s a big question which one the Indian government has sent here,” he said.

​​​​​​​Also Read: Vaccine gift a sign of Hasina-Modi strong ties: FM

Referring to a report of NDTV, the BNP leader said three people have died and around 600 people have been affected by different side effects in India in the first four days of vaccination.

He also said a large number of Indian doctors have refused to take the ‘controversial’ Covaxin voicing their doubt about its efficacy.

The BNP leader said there is a confusion in public mind about the corona vaccine due to the ministers’ different comments and the previous scams over the corona test and treatment.

"People are worried about the vaccine due to the lack of trust in the government. Especially, when some ministers say that if BNP wants, they will be given the corona vaccine first, then people find a deep conspiracy in this vaccine initiative,” he observed.