Bangladesh to become the exporter of vaccines

There will be no vaccine crisis in the country once Bangladesh start to coproduction vaccines with Sinopharm of China as there has been progress in the ongoing negotiation, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said on Thursday.

“We are hopefully to be able to make a formal announcement soon on vaccine coproduction in Bangladesh. And expectantly, we’ll become the exporter of vaccines (after meeting domestic demand),” the minister said while talking to reporters at State guesthouse Padma in the capital.

He, however, said it is up to them (vaccine-manufacturing countries) to choose local pharmaceutical companies for the vaccine coproduction in Bangladesh. “They’ll come and see the capacity after necessary inspection and will provide co-production facilities,” Dr Momen said.

Meanwhile, the foreign minister also disclosed that Bangladesh is set to receive a second batch of 600,000 doses of the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine as a gift from China next week. The government will dispatch two aircraft to bring home the vaccines on Jun 13, he said.

The vaccine, one of two main Chinese coronavirus vaccines that have been given to hundreds of millions of people in China and elsewhere, is the first developed by a non-Western country to win the backing of the World Health Organization.

Bangladesh started its mass vaccination campaign last February using COVISHIELD, the vaccine developed by the UK's University of Oxford and Anglo-Swedish company AstraZeneca. Despite an agreement to buy 30 million jabs, its manufacturer Serum Institute of India had only sent 7 million doses in two shipments before India froze export of the vaccine to tackle its own devastating crisis.

It prompted Bangladesh to halt the first dosing of the vaccine, while many who received the first shot were not given the second one.

In a bid to mitigate the crisis, the government reached out to China and Russia for vaccines. China has already sent 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine as a gift.

Later, China said it would gift another 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine to Bangladesh. The latest coronavirus vaccine developed by Sinovac Life Sciences Company has been approved for emergency use in Bangladesh as the second vaccine from China.

Aside from purchasing 15 million doses of the vaccine, the government is also discussing the possibility of producing the Chinese vaccine in Bangladesh. The South Asian nation is also in talks with Russia over the import and co-production of the Sputnik V vaccine.

Besides the Chinese government's initiatives, the Chinese Communist Party is also sending various medical equipment to the ruling Awami League, said Momen, a portion of which will be brought back alongside the vaccine shipment on Jun 13.

Briefing the media on the latest developments regarding the procurement of vaccines, the minister said, “We are trying to take steps that will allow us to produce the COVID-19 vaccine in the country."

"We hope to be able to make an announcement soon. The vaccine-makers will pick a drug company from here. They will come and  check the capabilities of the companies before offering a chance to co-produce the vaccine.”

Momen expects a positive outcome 'very soon' that will put to bed all concerns over the shortage of vaccines in the country.

Earlier, he attended a programme where Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) leaders donated medicines to Palestine Ambassador to Bangladesh Yusuf Ramadan.

Earlier, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming on Wednesday said a “very pragmatic” discussion is underway between Bangladesh and China on procurement of Covid-19 vaccine doses to meet Bangladesh’s needs.

He also said there is very a “encouraging progress” between the two countries over coproduction of vaccines.

Asked about misunderstanding with China over price disclosure, Dr Momen said there is no problem anymore as Bangladesh acknowledged the unintentional mistake.

“There’re many confidentialities in business and we, the government, is just a facilitator. We should abide by laws,” he said, adding that they are in a very good position in terms of discussions with China.

China will deliver the second consignment of vaccine doses for Bangladesh as a gift of its government by June 13.

Dr Momen said Bangladesh will send two special flights to bring vaccine doses and other medical supplies.

Responding to a question, Dr Momen said Bangladesh sought AstraZeneca vaccine doses from the USA immediately to address the current needs. “We told them there’ll be a problem if all who got the 1st dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca don’t get their second dose timely.”

Dr Momen, however, said he is going to the US to attend two important events – one on Rohingya issue and another the 5th LDC Summit, at the United Nations.

Bangladesh hoped that the US will honor Bangladesh by providing AstraZeneca vaccine doses apart from other vaccines saying Bangladesh sought 20 lakh doses of AstraZeneca from the USA.

The US government told Bangladesh that they will give vaccines but they are yet to decide how many doses they will be able to provide to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh needs at least 15 lakh doses of AstraZeneca immediately. The US reportedly wants to give Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to Bangladesh.

On June 3, the White House announced its plan to share vaccines directly with Bangladesh as part of a framework to provide 80 million US vaccine doses globally by the end of the month. This includes 7 million doses destined for Asia.