BD likely to get ‘Covidshield’ vaccine in January

The upcoming New Year’s is bringing good news, as people of Bangladesh are likely going to get Covid-19 vaccine, “Covidshield,” from India in January.

A top official of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said on Tuesday.

The health ministry of Bangladesh also said that they are expecting Covid-19 vaccines from India by January, failing which, latest by February.

Seeking anonymity, the official said: “As we have told earlier, Bangladesh would be the first country to get the Indian Covid-19 vaccine once it is ready. Now we are in the last moments of vaccine approval and manufacturing. Hopefully, the people of Bangladesh will get the vaccine in the upcoming new year, by January.”

When contacted, Health Services Division Secretary Abdul Mannan said: “According to the Serum Institute of India [SII] we are going to get the vaccine by January or February, maximum.”

He further said: “When they will get the approval for marketing the vaccine, Bangladesh will collect it.”

Government sources said that, in the first phase, frontline workers like doctors, medical workers, and elderly will get the priority when the vaccine will be distributed.  

According to a report of Aljazeera on Monday, the SII, the world’s largest vaccine producer by volume, sought government approval for emergency-use authorization of the coronavirus vaccine that it developed in partnership with the Oxford University and British drugmaker AstraZeneca.

“As promised, before the end of 2020, Serum Inst India has applied for emergency use authorization for the first made-in-India vaccine, COVISHIELD,” the company CEO Adar Poonawalla also tweeted on Monday.

Recently the government of Bangladesh has signed an agreement with two organizations to collect 30 million doses of the Oxford University Covid-19 vaccines developed by Astrazeneca.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on November 5, between the officials of the Health Ministry, SII, and Beximco Pharmaceuticals in Dhaka.

“Once the vaccine is developed, the Serum Institute will provide 30 million doses in the first phase, and Beximco Pharmaceuticals will bring it to Bangladesh,” Health Minister Zahid Maleque had said.

“We will be able to provide the vaccine to 15 million people once it’s available in Bangladesh as two shots of vaccine are needed for one person," added Maleque.

Health Services Division Secretary Abdul Mannan also said at that time that the government is not thinking about procuring the vaccines of Pfizer and Moderna as those are not suitable for Bangladesh due to temperature-related problems.

According to Indian media reports, the SII’s application stated that data from four clinical studies – two in the UK and one each in Brazil and India – showed that Covishield was highly effective against severe Covid-19 infections.

Last month, a 40-year-old man from the southern Indian city of Chennai had alleged that he suffered serious “neurological and psychological” symptoms after receiving the vaccine in a trial being run by the SII.

But the Indian government last week said it had found no reason to stop the Oxford vaccine trials in India after reviewing the volunteer’s allegation of serious adverse effects. The vaccine is currently in the Phase III clinical trial in India.

On Friday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi told an all-party meeting that in the next few weeks, Indian manufacturers would be able to produce the much-awaited Covid-19 vaccines.

In addition, the government of Bangladesh decided, the people of Bangladesh are set to get 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine free of cost.

“Over Tk735 crore has been allocated to purchase this vaccine. The government will buy 30 million doses and the people will get it for free,” Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam had said.