Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Bangladesh has finally involved in the global race of getting a potential coronavirus vaccine making two big decisions in the last two days.
In one vital decision, it allowed on Thursday Chinese Sinovac vaccine trial here with the hope of being a priority recipient for the China made Covid-19 vaccine.
“If Bangladesh participates in this trial, it’ll get one lakh free doses of the vaccine,” Health Minister Zahid Maleque told reporters at a press briefing on Thursday. “We also think that Bangladesh will get priority in collecting the required number of vaccines from Chines following the trial,” he added.
On Friday, Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limied, one of Bangladesh’s largest drugmakers, announced investing in the Serum Institute of India (SII) to ensure that Dhaka to get priority access to Covid-19 vaccines being developed by the Indian drug manufacturer.
The Pune-based (SII), the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by volume, has secured a manufacturing contract for two leading Covid-19 vaccine candidates – those supposed to come from AstraZeneca and Novavax.
It has also partnered with Gavi, a global alliance for vaccines, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to speed
up manufacturing and delivery of up to 100 million doses of potential Covid-19 vaccines for India and other low and middle-income countries in 2021. Covid-19 vaccines are likly to launch by the end of 2020.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the world hard, and countries around the globe are in a race to get the vaccine as soon as possible pouring billions of dollars. Those vaccines are expected to be in short supply when they first hit the market, meaning not everyone will have access initially unless they make deals and provide funding for the development and manufactute a vaccine being developed by any country or drugmaker,” said Professor Dr. M.Muzaherul Huq.
Besides, countries can secure early acess to Covid-19 vaccine candidates by holding advance clinical trials, he added.
“The government has already permitted phase-3 clinical trial of a Chinese potential vaccine and Beximco signed investment deal with SII for the development and manufacturing AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine in India. These partnerships have put Bangladesh on right track to get access to doses of promising vaccine candidates,” he told The New Nation on Saturday.
Eralier the U.S. took a programme called Operation Warp Speed, which aimed to produce a vaccine faster than anyone else. President Donald Trump has said he hoped it would be available before the end of the year.
The programme has already announced that it’s providing more than $6 billion US to pay for development, manufacturing and preorders or reservations for hundreds of millions of doses of promising vaccine candidates from U.S.-based Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer and Merck, along with U.K.-based AstraZeneca.
Similarly, the European Commission has a plan to use an emergency fund worth €2.4 billion (almost $3.7 billion Cdn) to buy up to six vaccines in advance for 450 million people.
Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands have also signed a deal with AstraZeneca for over 300 million doses of its vaccine, which they say all EU members would have participation there.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has preordered nearly 200 million doses from AstraZeneca, BioNTech/Pfizer and France-based Valneva.
There are concerns that such preorders could reduce the initial availability of vaccines in the rest of the world, which has happened in previous pandemics.
“The wealthier countries are doing everthing to ensure vaccine supplies for their own citizens. Even they invest big money to manufacture a vaccine within their own country and prevent it from being exported to get faster access to a Covid-19 vaccine,” Professor Dr. Nazrul Islam, former Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Medical University (BSMMU) and Member of the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid, told The New Nation.
In this situation, he said, the Bangladesh government has taken a very wise decision by accepting the phase-3 trial of the Chinese vaccine. If it becomes successful, we will be permitted to produce the vaccine in our country, and this can help the country to ensure its own supply.
