Noman Mosharef :
Bangladesh is desperately looking for new vaccine sources, as India imposed a ban on the export of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is produced by Serum Institute of India (SII).
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has joined China-led initiative called “China-South Asia Platform for Covid-19 Consultation, Cooperation, and Post-pandemic Economic Recovery” to get vaccine immediately.
When the authority is hardly trying to secure to get jab that time the public health experts have expressed confusion about the effectiveness of different brands of vaccines on the same patient.
“As Bangladesh urgently needs a new supply of vaccines by early May, it will be a challenge for the country to meet the need within this short time,” said Dr. Nahidujjaman Sajjad, a doctor of a private hospital in Dhaka.
He warned about the effectiveness of different brands on the same person.
“If Bangladesh is finally able to get vaccines from alternative sources, it means that a huge number of people who have already taken the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine as a first dose have to take the second dose from another brand,” he said. “So far I know till the date there is no study about the effectiveness of cross-massing vaccines in a single person,” Sajjad said, adding that without any concrete study, it would not be wise to inoculate one person with different brands.
Underlining the accepted three-month timeframe for taking a second dose, he said: “If the government fails to get vaccines timely, there is a risk that a huge number of people will have to take the second dose late.”
“So it should be wise for Bangladesh to immediately contact India from the highest level of government for releasing the rest of installments so that people can take both doses from the same brand,” he said.
Referring to irregularities and mismanagement at the ministry level, Md. Ehteshamul Huq Choudhury, secretary-general of the Bangladesh Medical Association, however, said that a big country like India needs billions of doses of vaccines.
“So it is not tougher for them to release the contractual installments of vaccines to Bangladesh if Dhaka contacts Delhi more closely,” said Ehteshamul Choudhury.
On average, more than 16,000 residents apply for vaccines daily, according to the latest report by the Health Ministry. And more than 150,000 receive a vaccine jab every day.
If the vaccination campaign continues at the current rate, the stock of vaccines will be exhausted by the first week of May.
Bangladesh, now passing through a worsening second wave of the pandemic with nearly 100 daily casualties, must resume contractual shipments with the remaining 23 million jabs from India.
