vaccination
Bangladesh approves local production of Russian, Chinese Covid vaccines
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday (April 28, 2021) approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.
“The cabinet body has approved in principle the Health Ministry’s proposal to facilitate the production of Russian and Chinese vaccines,” said Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division, while briefing reporters after the meeting.
Also Read: Bangladesh approves emergency use of Russian Sputnik V vaccine
She noted that the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russian and China through direct procurement method (DPM) which means the Health Ministry will not require to follow any competitive bidding princess.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the virtual meeting where the proposal was placed by the Health Ministry on an emergency basis.
Also Read: Will take 2 weeks to get vaccine from alternative sources
Dr Shahida Aktar said Russia’s Sputnik-V and China’s Sinopharm will be produced in Bangladesh using the facilities and logistics of different private pharmaceutical companies.
“No name of any specific companies was discussed at the meeting. But it was agreed in principle that the Russian and Chinese authorities will examine facilities and then things will be settled about who will produce the vaccines,” he added.
Read Covid-19: Mexico to join clinical trials of Russian vaccine
The approval from the government’s top authority came within a day of the government’s move to produce Covid-19 vaccines from Russian and China after India imposed a ban on the export of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine by Serum Institute to Bangladesh.
Mustafa Kamal said though Bangladesh approved Russian and Chinese vaccines’ local production, it will continue to its drive to have vaccine doses from India.
Read Myanmar registers Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine
“We didn’t give up the hope about getting vaccine jabs from India,” he told the reporters.
Bangladesh approves emergency use of Russian Sputnik V vaccine
The government of Bangladesh on Tuesday (April 27, 2021) approved the emergency use of Russian Sputnik V Vaccine.
The approval was given at a meeting of the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA).
Also read: FM to join China-led virtual meeting on vaccine cooperation
After the meeting, Director General of DGDA Mahbubur Rahman said, “Now there’s no legal bar to the import or use of this vaccine. If Bangladesh wants to purchase it, Russia will provide it next month,” he said.
“If everything goes well, this vaccine is expected to be available by May. In the first phase, 40 lakh doses will arrive,” he added.
Read US will share AstraZeneca vaccines with world
The DG said the DGDA has a 12-member public health emergency committee which examined the efficacy of the vaccine.
The vaccine is around 91 percent effective against Covid and its emergency use has been approved considering all these things, he added.
Read Will take 2 weeks to get vaccine from alternative sources: FM
Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine gives around 92% protection against Covid-19, reported BBC on February 2 this year referring to late-stage trial results published in The Lancet reveal.
“The vaccine was approved by Russia and it’s now being used in seven countries of the world. We’ve got all the data about it and we’ve scrutinised it through technical experts,” Mahbub added.
Read Vaccine is not the only solution: Quader
Apparently considering its dwindling stock, the government suspended administering the first dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from Apr 26.
Bangladesh to get 21 lakh Covid vaccine doses by early May: DGHS
Bangladesh will get 21 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the first week of May, said DG of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam on Sunday.
“Most of these vaccine doses will be imported by Beximco Pharmaceuticals,” he told reporters following an online discussion meeting marking World Malaria Day.
Among the doses, one lakh are of COVAX while Serum Institute of India will supply the rest, Khurshid Alam said.
Also read: How long does protection from COVID-19 vaccines last?
“We’ll continue administering the first doses of the vaccine alongside completing the second doses,” the DG said, adding, “We’ll also get vaccine/s from China as a gift. The Covid-19 National Technical Advisory Committee will take the decision on how those will be administered.”
He also told the journalists that three of the local pharmaceutical companies have the capacity to produce Covid-19 vaccines.
As the deadly variant of the virus is being spread rapidly across India, a proposal has been sent to the authorities concerned to stop all the communications with the neighbouring country, except the transportation of emergency goods, he said.
Read Around 6,000 Americans contracted Covid after being fully vaccinated, 74 died: CDC
Around 6,000 Americans contracted Covid after being fully vaccinated, 74 died: CDC
US health officials have confirmed fewer than 6,000 cases of Covid-19 in fully vaccinated Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Seventy-four of them died.
The cases represent just 0.007% of the 84 million Americans who have been fully vaccinated, reports CNBC. Despite the 'breakthrough' infections, Dr Walensky this week said the vaccines are working as intended.
Read Half of US adults have received at least one COVID-19 shot
"With any vaccine, we expect such rare cases, but so far out of more than 84 million people who were fully vaccinated, we have only received reports of less than 6,000 breakthrough cases," Walensky told reporters at a press briefing on Monday. Breakthrough cases are defined as someone contracting the virus more than 14 days after their second shot of the vaccine, i.e. when they can be said to be fully vaccinated.
"Although this number is from 43 states and territories and likely an underestimate, it still makes a really important point, these vaccines are working. Of the nearly 6,000 cases, approximately 30% had no symptoms at all," Walensky said. "This is really encouraging news. It demonstrates what we’ve already discussed about these vaccines. They also help prevent you from getting seriously ill."
Also read: Oregon: CDC investigating woman’s death after J&J vaccine
Out of the 6,000 or so breakthrough infections, 396 people were hospitalized and 74 people died, according to CDC data released last week.
The breakthrough infections have been reported in people of all ages. Around 45% of the infections were in patients over 60 years old.
Some 65% of these breakthrough infections have been reported in females.
Also read: Global Covid-19 cases cross 144 million
Half of all American adults have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of those aged 65 and older, 81% have received one dose or more and about two-thirds are fully vaccinated.
CDC's breakthrough case investigations
According to the CDC, there will be "a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19." Variants will cause some of these breakthroughs.
Also read: Fully vaccinated people can travel safely again, CDC says
It adds that "[t]o date, no unexpected patterns have been identified in the case demographics or vaccine characteristics among people with reported vaccine breakthrough infections." The CDC website reiterates that the Covid-19 vaccines are effective, and recommends that all eligible people get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one is available to them.
CVASU research: Vaccinated yet Covid-positive people at less risk
A study has found people who were coronavirus infected after vaccination are at lower health risk.
The study was conducted from February 7 to April 13 on 200 such cases by a team of researchers at the University of Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences (CVASU).
The study by CVASU found that only one infected patient died after taking the first dose of the vaccine.
Read Half of US adults have received at least one COVID-19 shot
According to the study, 82.5 percent of the patients did not have to go to hospital for treatment.
Although 17.5 percent vaccinated yet infected patients were admitted to the hospital, no serious health risk was observed among them.
More than 88 percent of 200 infected people did not have respiratory problems and 92 percent of the patients did not need oxygen.
Read Are some Covid-19 vaccines more effective than others?
The study showed that most of the vaccinated people became infected on average 32 days after vaccination and their average body temperature was 101 degrees.
These findings came up in the study in Chattogram region, led by Vice Chancellor Prof. Gautam Buddha Das of CVASU on the health risks of corona sufferers
The study was performed on 200 infected people who had taken the first dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India.
Also read: WHO calls for more research into post-Covid complications
Professor Dr. Sharmin Chowdhury, Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Rana, Dr. Trideep Das, Dr. Pranesh Dutta, Dr. Sirajul Islam and Dr. Tanvir Ahmad Nizami were among others in the research team.
Only 35 of the 200 had to be hospitalized for treatment and rest of them took treatment from home.
The primary symptoms of coronavirus attack are fever, sneezing and cough. The most notable symptom is shortness of breath. Most patients die from these respiratory and lung infections.
However, the patients in this study showed these symptoms in a limited scale.
The positive side of the study is that only one in 200 infected patients needed to be admitted to the ICU and died after six days.
Also read: Researchers find Italian woman infected with COVID-19 in November 2019: media
Studies have shown that those who had shortness of breath, did not show symptoms more than five days on average. Their average oxygen saturation rate was 96.8 percent.
In this regard, the head of the research team, CVASU VC Prof. Gautam Buddha Das, said that research has shown that people get infected even after vaccination but the risk of death is reduced. Only one in 200 infected people died after taking the first dose of the vaccine. This rate is 0.5 percent.
However, others who take the first dose of the vaccine are better now, he added.
Read Embattled Indian state looks to Bangladesh pharmas for supplies of Remdesivir
Half of US adults have received at least one COVID-19 shot
Half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one COVID-19 shot, the government announced Sunday, marking another milestone in the nation’s largest-ever vaccination campaign but leaving more work to do to convince skeptical Americans to roll up their sleeves.
Almost 130 million people 18 or older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, or 50.4% of the total adult population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Almost 84 million adults, or about 32.5% of the population, have been fully vaccinated.
Also Read: Vaccines to be made available at Alaska airports
The U.S. cleared the 50% mark just a day after the reported global death toll from the coronavirus topped a staggering 3 million, according to totals compiled by Johns Hopkins University, though the actual number is believed to be significantly higher.
The country’s vaccination rate, at 61.6 doses administered per 100 people, currently falls behind Israel, which leads among countries with at least 5 million people with a rate of 119.2. The U.S. also trails the United Arab Emirates, Chile and the United Kingdom, which is vaccinating at a rate of 62 doses per 100 people, according to Our World in Data, an online research site.
The vaccine campaign offered hope in places like Nashville, Tennessee, where the Music City Center bustled Sunday with vaccine seekers. High demand for appointment-only shots at the convention center has leveled off enough that walk-ins will be welcome starting this week.
Read South Africa scraps AstraZeneca vaccine, will give J&J jabs
Amanda Grimsley, who received her second shot, said she’s ready to see her 96-year-old grandmother, who lives in Alabama and has been nervous about getting the vaccine after having a bad reaction to a flu shot.
“It’s a little emotional. I haven’t been able to see my grandmother in a year and a half almost,” said Grimsley, 35. “And that’s the longest my entire family has ever gone without seeing her. And we’ll be seeing her in mid-May now.”
The states with the highest vaccination rates have a history of voting Democratic and supporting President Joe Biden in the 2020 election: New Hampshire at the top, with 71.1%, followed by New Mexico, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine, CDC data show.
Also Read: A rapid COVID-19 vaccine rollout backfired in some US states
The demand has not been the same in many areas of Tennessee — particularly, rural ones.
Tennessee sits in the bottom four states for rates of adults getting at least one shot, at 40.8%. It’s trailed only by Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi — three other Southern states that lean Republican and voted for Donald Trump last fall.
Vaccination rates do not always align with how states vote. But polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has shown trends that link political leanings and attitudes about the vaccines and other issues related to the pandemic, which has killed more than 566,000 people in the U.S.
A poll conducted in late March found that 36% of Republicans said they will probably or definitely not get vaccinated, compared with 12% of Democrats. Similarly, a third of rural Americans said they were leaning against getting shots, while fewer than a fourth of people living in cities and suburbs shared that hesitancy.
Read Ghana is first nation in world to receive COVAX vaccines
Overall, willingness to get vaccinated has risen, polling shows.
In January, 67% of adult Americans were willing to get vaccinated or had already received at least one shot. The figure has climbed to 75%, according to the latest AP-NORC poll.
Nationwide, 24% of Black Americans and 22% of Hispanic Americans say they will probably or definitely not get vaccinated, down from 41% and 34% in January, respectively. Among white Americans, 26% now say they will not get vaccinated. In January, that number was 31%.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said the goal is to get community figures, from athletes to clergy, to encourage vaccinations, particularly as the seven-day national average of cases remains over 60,000 new infections per day.
Read Coronavirus vaccines: How’s my country and the rest of the world doing?
“What we are doing is we’re trying to get, by a community core, trusted messages that anyone would feel comfortable with listening to, whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat, an independent or whomever you are, that you’re comfortable,” Fauci said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
Fauci also indicated Sunday that the government will likely move to resume use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine this week, possibly with restrictions or broader warnings after reports of some very rare blood clot cases.
In a series of news show interviews, Fauci said he expects a decision when advisers to the CDC meet Friday to discuss the pause in J&J’s single-dose vaccine.
Read Japan begins COVID-19 vaccination drive amid supply worry
“I would be very surprised if we don’t have a resumption in some form by Friday,” he said. “I don’t really anticipate that they’re going to want it stretch it out a bit longer.”
Fauci, who is President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said he believed federal regulators could bring the shots back with limits based on age or gender, or with a blanket warning, so the vaccine is administered in a way “a little bit different than we were before the pause.”
The J&J vaccine was thrown into limbo after the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration said last week that they needed more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shot — and if so, how big the risk is.
The reports are rare — six cases out of more than 7 million U.S. inoculations with the J&J vaccine. The clots were found in women between the ages of 18 and 48. One person died.
Read J&J vaccine to remain in limbo while officials seek evidence
Embattled Indian state looks to Bangladesh pharmas for supplies of Remdesivir
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has sought permission from the Indian central government to import 50,000 vials of Remdesivir from Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies for emergency use.
He has written to D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Indian Cabinet Minister, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, requesting him to allow import and use of the medicine.
Read Nigeria collects coronavirus medicine from Bangladesh
“With the increasing demand for Remedisivir for critical patients in Jharkhand & its unavailability, we have reached out to Pharma companies in Bangladesh for buying around 50,000 vials for emergency use. I have written to DV Sadanand Gowda for permission to import as soon as possible,” Chief Minister Soren tweeted.
He said they have been able to get a quotation from Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd for 50,000 vials of Demsivir Injection (Remdesivir) at a total cost of US$ 1 million, which the Jharkhand government is willing to procure at the earliest in light of the pressing needs of this medicine.
Also read: Covid-19 turns India into vaccine importer from exporter
“I would request you to kindly allow us to import and use the above mentioned medicine from the said company of Bangladesh so that we are able to save the precious lives,” Soren wrote in his letter to Minister Gowda.
Currently Eskayef (SK-F), Beacon, Incepta, Beximco, Healthcare and Square are producing the drug, which was first developed by US biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences.
Also read: Beximco Pharmaceuticals hands over 1000 doses of Remdesivir to Health Ministry
Remdesivir was the first drug approved by US regulator the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is indicated for treatment of COVID-19 disease in hospitalized adults and children aged 12 years and older.
Full approval was preceded by the US FDA issuing an EUA (emergency use authorization) on May 1, 2020 to allow prescribing remdesivir for severe COVID-19 (confirmed or suspected) in hospitalized adults and children, according to Medscape.
Read Beximco Pharmaceuticals hands over 1000 doses of Remdesivir to Health Ministry
Bangladesh far away from herd immunity; only massive vaccination can help: Experts
Achieving herd immunity through a massive vaccination drive can be the best option for Bangladesh to get rid of the deadly Coronavirus as all the steps, including the lockdown, have failed to slow down its upsurge in the country, experts said.
Though many people are believed to have developed antibodies through infections, Bangladesh is not on its way to achieving herd immunity as Covid’s new variants like South African one can dodge people’s that type of immune protection, according to the experts.
Read After Coronavirus: Police adopts yoga for enhanced immunity to disease
They think the government should focus mainly on collecting at least 25 crore doses of the vaccine from different sources to attain herd immunity.
They also said though some studies have raised questions about the efficacy of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against the South African variant, most studies suggest it can at least reduce the mortality and morbidity rates.
Herd immunity is a concept based on the body's immune resistance to the spread of a deadly disease or virus and it can be attained in two ways -- naturally or through infections of the majority population and artificially or through vaccinating at least 70% of the population of a country.
Read Are some Covid-19 vaccines more effective than others?
Far away from herd immunity
Talking to UNB, Prof Muzaherul Huq, a former adviser to WHO South-East Asia region, said Bangladesh is not moving towards attaining herd immunity for the lack of a strong vaccination drive.
“Bangladesh is far away from achieving herd immunity as only around 55 lakh people have so far given the first dose of Covid vaccine. The official figure about the virus cases is only 6,73,594. We don’t know how many people here have the antibody. So, we’ve an option to vaccinate our majority people for attaining herd immunity,” he observed.
Also read: Is Bangladesh ready to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine?
No region in the world spared as virus cases, deaths surge
Hospitals in Turkey and Poland are filling up fast. Pakistan is restricting domestic travel to contain a surge in coronavirus infections. Even Thailand, which has weathered the pandemic far better than many nations, is now struggling to contain a new COVID-19 spike.
The only exceptions to the deteriorating worldwide situation are countries that have advanced vaccination programs, mostly notably Israel and Britain. Even the U.S., which is a vaccination leader globally, is seeing a small uptick in new cases, and the White House announced Friday that it would send federal help to Michigan to control the state’s worst-in-the-nation transmission rate.
The World Health Organization said Friday that it’s concerned about infection rates that are rising in every global region, driven by new virus variants and too many nations coming out of lockdown too soon.
“We’ve seen rises (in cases) worldwide for six weeks. And now, sadly, we are seeing rises in deaths for the last three weeks,” Dr. Margaret Harris, a WHO spokeswoman, said at a briefing in Geneva.
In its latest weekly epidemiological update, the WHO said over 4 million COVID-19 cases were reported in the last week. New deaths increased by 11% compared to last week, with over 71,000 reported.
Also read: Countries worldwide hit new records for virus cases, deaths
The increasing infections, hospitalizations and deaths extend to countries where vaccinations are finally gaining momentum. That leaves even bleaker prospects for much of the world, where large-scale vaccination programs remain a more distant prospect.
In Turkey, which is among the badly hit countries, most new cases of the virus can be traced to a variant first found in Britain.
Ismail Cinel, head of the Turkish Intensive Care Association, said the surge was beginning to strain the nation’s relatively advanced health care system and “the alarm bells are ringing” for intensive care units, which are not yet at full capacity.
“The mutant form of the virus is causing more harm to the organs,” Cinel said. “While 2 out of 10 patients were dying previously, the number is now 4 out of 10. And if we continue this way, we will lose six.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan eased COVID-19 restrictions in early March to minimize pain to his nation’s ailing economy. The new spike forced him to announce renewed restrictions, such as weekend lockdowns and the closure of cafes and restaurants during Ramadan, which starts April 13.
Also read: Global Covid cases top 132 million
Turkish medical groups say the reopening in March was premature and that the new measures do not go far enough. They have been calling for full lockdowns during the holy Muslim month.
In the U.S. capital, President Joe Biden’s administration outlined how the federal government planned to help Michigan better administer the doses already allocated to the state, as well as expand testing capacity and the availability of drugs. The effort will not include any extra vaccine doses, a move Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sought.
Doses are currently allocated to states proportionally by population. Whitmer has called for extra doses to be shifted to states like hers experiencing a sharp rise in cases.
The death toll in Iran is also rising, prompting new restrictions that will take effect for 10 days in 257 cities beginning Saturday. They involve the closure of all parks, restaurants, confectionaries, beauty salons, malls and bookstores.
Authorities in Pakistan, which is in the middle of a third surge of infections, are restricting inter-city transportation on weekends starting at midnight Friday as part of measures aimed at limiting coronavirus cases and deaths.
Also read: COVAX reaches over 100 economies, 42 days after first international delivery
Elsewhere in Asia, authorities in Thailand on Friday ordered new restrictions in an effort to contain a growing coronavirus outbreak just days before the country’s traditional Songkran New Year’s holiday, when millions of people travel.
Japan, meanwhile, announced tougher measures ahead of the Summer Olympics.
In Germany, Poland and other countries in the 27-member European Union, vaccination programs are finally ramping up after a slow start in the first three months of the year due to delivery shortages.
Thousands of German medical practices joined the vaccination campaign this week. That helped Germany reach its second consecutive daily record on Thursday of almost 720,000 doses administered — meaning that 14.7% of the population has now received at least one dose and 5.8% have received both shots.
Yet German health officials are warning of a steep rise in intensive care patients and are calling for stronger action to contain infections.
Also read: Governments give varying advice on AstraZeneca vaccine
Lothar Wieler, the head of Germany’s disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, said nearly 4,500 COVID-19 patients are receiving intensive care, with the number increasing by 700 over the past week — a 20% rise.
Neighboring Poland is also seeing a dramatic spike in deaths, and hospitals have been forced to turn away cancer and other patients as ICU and other hospital beds are taken by COVID-19 patients. Hospitalizations of virus patients there have jumped 20% in the past two weeks.
Harris, from the WHO, said the world knows how to fight these surges. She cited good news from the U.K., where new coronavirus cases dropped 60% in March amid a strong vaccination program, “but we have to do it all.”
“We have to keep on social distancing. We have to avoid indoor crowded settings. We have to keep wearing the masks, even if vaccinated,” she said. “People are misunderstanding, seeming to think that vaccination will stop transmission. That is not the case. We need to bring down the transmission while giving the vaccination the chance to stop the severe disease.”
Are some Covid-19 vaccines more effective than others?
Do some Covid-19 vaccines work more effectively than others?
It’s hard to tell since they weren’t directly compared in studies. But experts say the vaccines are alike on what matters most: preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
“Luckily, all these vaccines look like they’re protecting us from severe disease,” said Dr Monica Gandhi of the University of California, San Francisco, citing study results for five vaccines used around the world and a sixth that’s still in review.
Also read: Countries worldwide hit new records for virus cases, deaths
And real-world evidence as millions of people receive the vaccines show they’re all working very well.
Still, people might wonder if one is better than another since studies conducted before the vaccines were rolled out found varying levels of effectiveness. The problem is they don’t offer apples-to-apples comparisons.
Consider the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, found to be about 95% effective at preventing illness. Studies for those shots counted a Covid-19 case whether it was mild, moderate or severe — and were conducted before worrisome mutated versions of the virus began circulating.
Also read: Governments give varying advice on AstraZeneca vaccine
Then Johnson & Johnson tested a single-dose vaccine and didn’t count mild illnesses. J&J’s shot was 66% protective against moderate to severe illness in a large international study. In just the U.S., where there’s less spread of variants, it was 72% effective. More importantly, once the vaccine’s effect kicked in it prevented hospitalization and death.
AstraZeneca’s two-dose vaccine used in many countries has faced questions about the exact degree of its effectiveness indicated by studies. But experts agree those shots, too, protect against the worst outcomes.
Also read: COVAX reaches over 100 economies, 42 days after first international delivery
Around the world, hospitalizations are dropping in countries where vaccines have been rolling out including Israel, England and Scotland — regardless of which shots are given. And the US government’s first look at real-world data among essential workers provided further evidence that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are highly protective -- 90% -- against infections whether there were symptoms or not.