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Dhaka eyes Sinopharm jab purchase from July

Inoculation of Pfizer vaccine starts today


Published : 20 Jun 2021 09:31 PM | Updated : 21 Jun 2021 12:38 AM

Bangladesh is expecting commercial supply of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine from July as the government continues to explore all the available sources to inoculate about 14 crore people.

“The agreement (with Sinopharm) is almost finalised and we’re expecting vaccine supply from China next month,” Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen on Sunday told journalists.

He said the government is also in discussion with China about buying the Sinovac vaccine. But the Sinopharma vaccine will arrive first since we started the discussion with them first, the foreign secretary said.

Bangladesh has approved six vaccines for emergency use including China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac.

The government started vaccination against the Covid-19 with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India.

But the Serum could not supply the doses as expected forcing the government to explore other options.

About 1.5 million people could not be vaccinated with the dose of AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

China, however, gifted 12 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine with which the government resumed the vaccination campaign on Saturday.

 Replying to a question, the foreign secretary said that there is no progress in getting AstraZeneca jabs from the Serum Institute.

 He said it may take months to get the vaccine from Serum in the last quarter of this year.

 He also said that the US also did not give them any information about providing its surplus AstraZeneca jabs to Bangladesh.

 Bangladesh earlier sought AstraZeneca jabs from the US from its surplus doses. US President Joe Biden, however, announced that they would donate those jabs to the WHO and GAVI-led Covax mechanism.

 Covax also announced to give 10 lakh AstraZeneca jabs to Bangladesh. But they did not disclose the source of those vaccines, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen earlier said.

 The government is also in talks with Moscow to get the Sputnik vaccine.

 The foreign secretary said the discussion is in progressing “positively”.

 Pfizer and Belgium's Janssen are the other vaccines that received approval for emergency use in Bangladesh. 

 Bangladesh first reported Covid-19 cases on March 8 last year. So far, 8,51,668 people were tested positive and 13,548 died from the virus, according to the health directorate’s figure. 

UNB adds: Bangladesh’s health workers are gearing up to start administering the first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in capital Dhaka today (Monday) as the Covid-19 situation keeps worsening in the country.

Prof Shamsul Haque, Line Director of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and a member of the Vaccine Distribution Committee, disclosed it in a health briefing on Sunday.

“We’ve already received 100,620 doses of vaccine from COVAX facility. We’ve preserved it. Necessary guidelines and training have been given. Hope, we’ll start the inoculation with it on Monday,” he said.

The vaccine will be administered first at three hospitals in Dhaka-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Sheikh Russel Gastro-liver Institute and Kurmitola General Hospital.

Those who got registered earlier for vaccination will get priority, Prof Haque added.

In each of these centres, 120 people will be vaccinated every day from 9 am to 3 pm.

People getting vaccinated in the first run of Pfizer vaccine will be monitored for 7-10 days before the regular vaccination programme with Pfizer is launched, said Dr. Shamsul Haque.

He also said that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine shots will arrive soon and those who could not get the second dose will get priority.

On May 27, the government approved the emergency use of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in the country.

Bangladesh on Saturday started administering Sinopharm vaccine doses across the country.

The vaccination started in the capital and elsewhere in the country with 11 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine gifted by China, said the DGHS.

The vaccine doses are given at four hospitals in Dhaka district -- Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital, Sir Salimullah Medical College and Hospital, and Mughda Medical College and Hospital.

Health workers and police personnel, students of government and private medical and dental colleges, students of government institutes of nursing and midwifery, residents of dormitories of public universities, officers and employees working in important national projects, expatriate workers, cleaners, those who are engaged in burial and those who were excluded from vaccination earlier and citizens of other countries who are working here will be vaccinated on a priority basis.