Experts and drug importers urged the government to formulate a policy on importing Covid-19 vaccines on an urgent basis to ensure inoculations of the local population.
Human health experts said the government should take wide measures to bring Covid-19 vaccines from various producers across the globe to fight against the fatal virus.
The National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 has recommended the government to try for every possible ways to bring more vaccines from abroad involving private sectors partnership.
They asked to encourage private sector’s pharmaceutical businesses to be involved to import vaccines so that there were no shortages thereof in the country to fight against the probable second wave and to eliminate the pandemic from the country.
But the businessmen from Pharmaceutical sectors said, they are in hesitation on importing the jab due to certain problems.
No policy has been taken yet about how to distribute the vaccine among the mass people.
So far, the government has made availability of three crore doses of covid vaccine of Oxford-AstraZeneca to be bought from India’s Serum company within January-February next.
Besides, the World Health Organisation’s COVAX porgarmme also provide six more crore of jabs to Bangladesh hopefully within May or June in 2021.
As per the sources, every one needs to take two doses of vaccines.
In this way, the government has ensured vaccines for about 4.5 crore people.
Vaccinations of the rest 13.5 crore people are yet be ensured.
In these circumstances, the people of the country and public health experts are
pushing for private sector’s involvement in importing covid vaccines.
Professor Dr. Mohammad Shahidullah, the Chairman of the National Technical Advisory Committee, said that they had recommended the government to widen efforts with involving private sectors to import vaccines from different sources to strengthening the battle against covid.
The pharmaceutical businessmen are saying that the people of the country are seeking covid vaccines availability soon to be protected from the fatal disease.
But they are in hesitation on importing the jab because the lack of government policy on it.
“The price of a vaccine may not be in purchasing capacity of the common people of the country. So, it is needed to government subsidies. But the government is yet to prepare or announce any policy on this matter,” SM Shafiuzzaman, Secretary General of Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries told The New Nation on Wednesday.
He said there are many difficulties on the way of importing the covid jabs.
“It must be stored at temperatures below seven degrees Celsius. For several lakhs of doses of jabs it is surely difficult for the importers. Besides, it is not clear yet if the government buy the jab from importers or give subsidies or not,” he said.
Sources said, prices of the covid vaccines will be Tk 700 to Tk 2000 in account of different companies.
On the other hand, different businessmen of pharmaceutical sectors said on the condition of anonymity that the government has made Beximco pharmaceuticals involvement on importing Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India’s Serum company, which also kept them away from trying to import the jab.
They think the government may not open the field for others as the big one has already been involved.
Besides, with government’s importing, the Beximco also will import number of jabs from India’s Serum.
Rabbur Reza, the Chief Operating Officer of the Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited said they here in advance booked 10 lakh doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from Serum.
He said, in private process, the price of the vaccine will be about Tk 700.
The other sources said the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna’s price will be about Tk2000 in Bangladesh.
