The Chinese Embassy in Colombo has denied reports citing that Sri Lanka is paying $5 more for a Sinopharm vaccine compared to Bangladesh.
In a Tweet, the embassy has said that they had checked with the Chinese embassy in Dhaka as well as with the Sinopharm group.
“FYI: Bangladesh Health Minister has clarifed last week that their procurement agreement including pricing is not finalized yet. The fake news on social media has already disturbed their ongoing negotiation,” the Tweet added.
Social media was all abuzz after ‘Lanka C News’ had reported that Sri Lanka is purchasing the Sinopharm vaccine at a unit price of US$ 15 while Bangladesh is purchasing it at US$10.
The back story
Earlier, Bangladesh media had reported that the country would purchase the vaccine at a unit price of US$10.
The Bangladesh English daily ‘The Daily Star’ had said that the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase on Thursday (27) had approved a proposal for buying 1.5 crore doses of Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine, paving the way for the final agreement.
“Immediately after the meeting, chaired by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, a Cabinet Division official told reporters at a briefing that they were purchasing the vaccine at $10 per dose,” it added.
“However, as the news spread online through different media outlets, including The Daily Star, ministry officials contested the disclosure saying that the price had not been approved yet,” it further said.
‘The Daily Star’ had further reported :
A finance ministry official sent a text to the messenger group of reporters covering the ministry, requesting the media not to mention the price for the “greater interest of the country”.
Contacted, Health Minister Zahid Maleque declined to disclose the price of the vaccine.
“As the purchase committee has approved the proposal, we hope that the procurement agreement between the two countries will be signed very soon,” he said.
Price ranges
According to the prices of COVID-19 vaccines as mentioned in the ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard’ published on unicef.org, all vaccines have different price ranges across different regions in the world.
