WHO panel authorises emergency use of China s Sinopharm vaccine
The World Health Organisation gave emergency use authorisation Friday to a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by China s Sinopharm, potentially paving the way for millions of the doses to reach needy countries through a UN-backed program rolling out coronavirus vaccines.
The decision by a WHO technical advisory group, a first for a Chinese vaccine, opens the possibility that Sinopharm s offering could be included in the UN-backed COVAX program in coming weeks or months and distributed through UN children s agency UNICEF and WHO s Americas regional office.
Aside from efficacy numbers, the Chinese manufacturer has released very little public data about its two vaccines â one developed by its Beijing Institute of Biological Products and the other by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.
The stock of Oxford-AstraZeneca doses is running out fast but the government, despite frantic efforts to keep the inoculation campaign on track, is yet to secure a contract for bulk supply of alternative Covid-19 vaccines.
The government suspended administration of the first dose on April 26, immediately after the Indian government barred export of Covishield the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) yesterday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is running out as there are only 14 lakh jabs in stock with no sign of fresh shipment from India.
There will be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive in the country before the existing stock is exhausted, DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said.
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Officials are making preparations to receive the shots that will be used as the first jab.
The government may send a special plane to bring the doses from Beijing, officials said. We have written to the foreign ministry to take action. Bangladesh Air Force will probably bring the vaccine from Beijing on May 10, Syed Mojibul Huq, additional secretary of the Health Services Division of the health ministry, told The Daily Star yesterday.
The Chinese embassy in Dhaka on April 29 in a letter addressed to Joint Secretary Shahriar Kader Siddiky of the Economic Relations Division said a special flight would be needed to bring the 5,02,400 doses.
Securing Vaccines: Local production with own funds
Mulls the govt over vaccines from other sources; approves emergency use of China’s Sinopharm Star report Star report
The government is considering whether to locally produce Covid-19 vaccines with its own funds as the supply of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India s Serum Institute remains uncertain.
The production will be funded by the Tk 10,000 crore allocated in this year s budget to combat the pandemic.
The government funds will be spent for either locally manufacturing the vaccine with the developers assistance or an arrangement to co-produce with the inventors.
Bangladesh is trying to source vaccines as the country s mass inoculation programme stumbled following India s restriction on export of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced by Serum.