Covid vaccines
Global Covid cases near 180 million
As countries struggle to contain the second outbreak of the pandemic, the global Covid-19 caseload is fast approaching the grim milestone of 180 million.
The total caseload and fatalities from the virus stand at 179,936,032 and 3,898,801, respectively, as of Friday morning, as per Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
So far, 2,759,134, 526 Covid vaccine doses have been administered across the globe, as per the university data.
The US has logged 33,590,429 cases and 603,178 deaths to date, according to the university data. The death toll in the United States is the highest in the world.
Also read: Global hunger levels rise as conflict, climate shocks and Covid collide
India's Covid-19 tally surpassed 30 million while the death toll topped 393,338 on Thursday, said the federal health ministry.
As many as 51,248 new cases and 965 deaths were registered across the country in the past 24 hours till Wednesday morning.
Brazil on Thursday reported 72,705 new Covid-19 cases, taking the national tally to 18,243,483, the Ministry of Health said.
Some 2,042 people died of Covid during the same period, raising the national death toll to 509,282.
Covid-19 was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, in late 2019 but the outbreak spread quickly across the globe in the first two-three months of 2020.
It was declared a global pandemic by the WHO on 11 March, 2020.
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Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Thursday morning reported 6,058 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, with a positivity rate of 19.93%, heightening the mounting worries over Bangladesh’s coronavirus situation.
Besides, the deadly virus claimed the lives of 81 more people during the period, taking the national fatality tally to 13,868.
The fresh cases have pushed up the total caseload to 8,72,935, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.
Vaccine rollout
Bangladesh on Monday started administering the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at three centers in Dhaka to fight off Covid.
On May 27, the government approved the emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine in the country.
On Saturday, Bangladesh started administering the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine across the country.
The vaccination drive started across the country with 11 lakh doses of Sinopharm gifted by China, said the DGHS.
Also read: Covid: 77pc families in Bangladesh hit hard by first wave, says study
Bangladesh is now administering the first doses of the Sinopharm and Pfizer vaccines and also the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
As of now, 32,688 people have received the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine, while 368 people have got the second dose.
Of the Astrazeneca vaccine doses, 4,281,776 people have received the second shot and 5,820,015 the first one to date.
Serum gets govt nod to produce Sputnik vaccine in India
The Indian government on Friday gave permission to Serum Institute to produce Russian Covid-19 jab Sputnik V in the country, a development that could also help end vaccine shortage in neighbouring Bangladesh.
The permission from India's drugs controller came two days after the country's leading vaccine maker sought its nod to manufacture the Russian Covid jab here.
"We have got preliminary approval for Sputnik V. But actual manufacturing will take several months. In the meantime, our focus remains Covishield," a spokesperson for Serum Institute told the local media.
Also read: Sputnik V production starts in India; 100 million doses to be produced annually
Serum's Covishield is being widely used in both India and Bangladesh's mega inoculation drives. Bangladesh has inked a deal with Serum to buy 30 million doses of Covishield, but a recent surge in Covid cases in India has now made the delivery of the remaining doses uncertain.
"However, if Serum manages to plug the gap in vaccine shortage in India, it will also be able to resume supply of the Covid jabs to Bangladesh. In that case, there will be no impediment from any official channel," government sources told UNB.
On Thursday, Serum said that it sought permission from India's drugs controller to produce Sputnik V in this country as well as indemnity against legal proceedings linked to the use of its vaccines here.
Also read: Sputnik V's Limited Rollout Begins In Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam Tomorrow
"SII put up an application to the Drugs Controller General of India on Wednesday, seeking permission to manufacture Sputnik V in India," a company official had said.
Another company official had told the media that all vaccine companies in India should get indemnity protection against liabilities "if foreign companies are granted the same".
Serum's demand came in wake of media reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government could grant legal protection to foreign Covid vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna.
Also read: Russian Vaccine Sputnik V: Things we should know to fight COVID-19
In a recent interview with a British daily, Serum's chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla had said that the company would increase the vaccine production capacity from the existing 2.5 billion to 3 billion doses a year within six months.
India is currently witnessing a ferocious second wave of Covid-19. At the same time, an acute shortage of Covid vaccines has seriously hampered the country's mass inoculation drive.
Prime Minister Modi rolled out the world's largest Covid vaccination drive in India on January 16. Covishield and local company Bharat Biotech's Covaxin are currently being given to citizens.
Access to Covid vaccines top priority for LDCs: Dhaka
Highlighting multidimensional challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic to the LDCs, Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Rabab Fatima has identified access to Covid-19 vaccines as the top priority for the LDCs.
She said if this issue is not addressed immediately, the LDCs will face serious humanitarian and economic misery for years to come.
Ambassador Rabab Fatima and Ambassador Bob Ray, Permanent Representative of Canada, jointly convened the first Session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meeting of the Fifth United Nations Conference (LDC-5) on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at the UN Headquarters in New York on Monday.
Read:Covid-19 vaccines: Commonwealth health ministers demand equal access for everyone
They were elected as the co-chairs of the PrepCom at its organisational session in February 2021.
The LDC-5 conference will be held in DOHA, Qatar in January 2022.
The LDC-V conference is envisaged to be one of the biggest UN conferences in 2022. The next programme of Action for the LDCs is expected to come up with a new global compact to address both the immediate and structural issues of the LDCs.
As a co-chair, Bangladesh will also have the opportunity to move forward some of its key priorities, including sustainable graduation and international support measures for graduation.
Notably, the UN recommended Bangladesh to graduate from the LDC category in February, 2021.
The President of Malawi Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera joined the meeting virtually as a keynote speaker in his capacity as the global chair of the LDCs.
Read: China proposes setting up int’l forum on vaccine cooperation
As the host of the LDC-5 conference, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Qatar Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi also delivered a keynote speech.
Among others, President of the UN General Assembly Volkan Bozkir, President of the ECOSOC Munir Akram, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J Mohammed OECD Development Assistance Committee Chair Susanna Moorehead, and USG, OHRLLS Fekitamoeloa Katoa Utoikamanu, spoke at the meeting.
The General Debate was addressed by a large number of Member States, including important development partners, who highlighted serious consequences facing LDCs due to the pandemic and expressed solidarity and partnership towards an ambitious 10-year Programme of Action for the LDCs.
Ambassador Rabab Fatima stressed the need for an incentives-based graduation package for the graduating and graduated countries from LDCs as they are at a high risk of sliding back—both by the Covid-19 impact and the loss of LDC specific support measures.
Among other things, she also underscored the multidimensional challenges and vulnerabilities faced by the LDCs in the areas of poverty and inequality, trade, climate change, external debt, migration and remittances.
Read:Covid vaccine: China to send additional 6 lakh doses as gift
This meeting sets in motion the substantive work for the LDC5 Conference to be held in Doha, Qatar in January 2022.
It will continue through the week.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, and Information and Communication Technology Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed are expected to participate in different thematic sessions of the meeting later this week.
Can I take COVID vaccines from two different brands?
After a year of research and experiment, COVID vaccines turn out to be the savior. Several organizations already get approval from the proper authority. So far, all the approved vaccines are effective. To get full protection, two doses of vaccine are needed in four weeks of interval. There is a common question that may arise, whether the vaccine is effective if you take from two different brands. However, it is still debatable as no effective research has been published on that, but experts have given their opinion on that.
Currently, experts suggest that everyone should get the vaccine from the same brands. To create a more flexible COVID-19 vaccination environment, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) initiated a research named Com-COV to determine the effectiveness of mix and match the two different brands.
Read: Indian COVID variant: Why is it more deadly? How is it affecting the neighboring countries?
But, initially, it is assumed that getting vaccination from two different brands will not get you the greater protection against the diseases. In this context, Dr. Nikhil Bhayani, infectious disease specialist with Texas Health Resources, conveyed, “By using two different vaccines, there is not going to be a greater magnitude of protection against the disease.” Besides, he also recommends not to get the vaccines from two different brands yet. Hence, we should wait until the Com-COV publishes its findings.
Com-COV’s first stage experiment will come out by June or July 2021, though the study will continue for at least a year. The researcher will mix match the vaccines from all the available brands. Hence, we may need to wait a long time to get details on all brands.
Read: Russian Vaccine Sputnik V: Things we should know to fight COVID-19
Vaccines can be mix-matched in exceptional situation
While some experts suggest taking both doses from the same brand, some healthcare professionals suggest that the vaccine can be mix-matched rare cases. For instance, one can take one dose from Moderna and another dose from Pfizer. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this should be considered only in rare cases.
What can be the rare cases?
The exceptional or rare case might occur if a person does not remember the vaccine brand of the first dose, or the documentation does not have the name of the brand. Further, another case can be if the first dose brand is not available anymore or at a certain point in time. However, for now, the vaccine mic match can only be done for Moderna and Pfizer as both of them are similar.
However, a question might arise if a person should wait to get the second dose from the same brand if that brand’s second dose is not available. There is no actual answer to this concern. Therefore we may take the second dose from another brand, or we may wait. But it is evident that only taking the first dose will not protect us from getting COVID. Therefore, we will need to wait for the research result to come out. Besides, it will not be wise to take decisions on our own, but we cannot make the decisions either as the health care experts and government agencies are there to guide us.
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Keep up efforts to procure Covid vaccines: Standing committee on Foreign Ministry
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs has suggested the ministry keep up intensified efforts to get Oxford-AstraZeneca and China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines from India, China and the United States.
The 20th meeting of the committee was held at Sangsad Bhaban on Sunday with its Chairman Faruk Khan in the chair. Committee members including Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, Nurul Islam Nahid and M Abdul Majid were present.
It reviewed the current situation about procurement of vaccines, celebrations of 50 years of Bangladesh's Independence and other issues, said a media release.
Dr Momen on Saturday said there is nothing to be worried about the availability of vaccines, noting that the government will have enough vaccines soon from alternative sources.
Also read: Nothing to be worried about vaccines: FM
“I believe we'll have enough vaccines. No person should be worried about it. Vaccines will come timely and all will get it,” he said in a video message shared on his verified Facebook page.
The Foreign Minister said Bangladesh is much ahead of many countries in the world in procuring vaccines and launching vaccination drives across the country.
He said many European countries decided about which vaccine they should use just in April whereas in Bangladesh many people got vaccinated.
Apart from China and Russia, Dr Momen said, there is much possibility to get vaccines from the US.
Also read: Deal with Russia soon over Covid vaccine: Health Minister
The Foreign Minister has recently written a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken seeking vaccine doses for immediate and long-term needs.
The government has sought immediate release of 2-4 million doses of vaccine from the US and a total of 10 to 20 million doses of vaccine for the long-term supply.
The US will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine with other countries as they become available.
The Foreign Minister said 5,00,000 doses of Chinese vaccine will arrive on May 12 as gift from the Chinese government.
Also read: Bangladesh seeks immediate delivery of 4 mn vaccine doses from US: FM
The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally.
The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
Dr Momen said Russia's Sputnik V vaccine showed over 97 percent efficacy while the Chinese vaccines were taken by 100 million people without any side effects.
Bangladesh has received 7 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) through its contract. Bangladesh also received 3.3 million doses of vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift. This is the largest amount sent from India to any country.
Covid vaccines should be declared as global public goods: PM Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said Bangladesh firmly believes that coronavirus vaccines should be declared as global public goods and called for a strong partnership to tackle COVID-19 challenges.
The pandemic, she noted, has brought mankind at a crossroad of human history confronting possibly the gravest global challenge of our times.
“The socio-economic impacts of the pandemic are massive and are still unfolding. It is, therefore, extremely important to strengthen the global and regional partnerships through coordinated efforts to address these challenges,” she said.
Prime Minister Hasina said this in her prerecorded video speech at the opening plenary of the four-day annual conference Boao Forum for Asia (BAF) titled “A world in change: Join hands to strengthen global governance and advance Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Cooperation”.
Partnership and Connectivity
Sheikh Hasina focused on three issues –
First, the need for strong partnership to address the challenges posed by the pandemic, and to make vaccines available to everyone by declaring it as global public goods;
Second, the need to work together for harnessing the power of technology as the future will be driven by the 4IR, which comes with opportunities and challenges, and
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Bangladesh, China discuss Covid vaccine assistance: Envoy
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming on Friday said they are now in close discussion with Bangladesh over coronavirus vaccine assistance.
WHO calls for equitable access to Covid vaccines
As Covid-19 cases spike in parts of Europe, Africa and the Americas, and new variants of the virus emerge in some countries, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for greater global collaboration in ending the pandemic.