Govt to revise policy to allow Russian, Chinese vaccines

The government is set to modify its policy to pave way for the import of Covid-19 vaccines from Russia and China, as vaccines from these countries are yet to be approved by global regulatory bodies.

Bangladesh currently allows the Covid-19 vaccines that are approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) chief Dr ABM Khurshid Alam told the media: “We will have to change our policy as we want to take vaccines from various sources, including China and Russia. We will not be able to get enough vaccines from just one or two sources to fulfill our vaccination target.”

Bangladesh is set to cover around 130 million people during the free vaccination program.

“Many countries are using China’s Sinopharm and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines. They are effective against Covid-19; so we are thinking of allowing them,” he added.

According to the Covid-19 vaccine tracker website, a total 13 brands of Covid-19 vaccines are being used across the world. Among them, the WHO and the FDA have approved the vaccines by Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer–BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

So far, Bangladesh has only been able to import doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India. Efforts are underway to import the Pfizer–BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, but they are yet to bear fruit.

A DGHS source said that the Moderna vaccine was not preferable for Bangladesh as it needed to be stored at freezing temperatures. According to the CDC guidelines, the vaccine has to be stored between -15 degrees Celsius and -50 degrees Celsius.

“The Johnson & Johnson vaccine will also be difficult to acquire, because they have a deal with the US under which they can only provide the vaccine to the US until August this year,” the official said, seeking anonymity as he is not authorized to talk to the media.

However, Bangladesh is set to get some small relief through the COVAX scheme.

“Bangladesh will receive 100,000 doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine next month through the scheme,” Dr Khurshid Alam said on Sunday.

DGHS Additional Director General Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora echoed the DG, saying that the government was thinking about revising the Covid-19 vaccine policy to keep other options open.

Dr Tarek Hossain, public health expert at the Asian Development Bank, said: “Many countries have accepted the Sinopharm and Sputnik V vaccines. There have not been any reports of significant side effects; so Bangladesh could allow them.”