The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Bangladesh on Tuesday (November 28, 2023) signed a loan agreement for $336.5 million to establish domestic vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics manufacturing capacity and strengthen the national regulator to ensure vaccine supply security in Bangladesh. Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky, secretary, Economic Relations Division, and Edimon Ginting, ADB country director for Bangladesh signed the agreement on behalf of Bangladesh and ADB, respectively. The vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics manufacturing and regulatory strengthening project will establish a vaccine, therapeutic, and diagnostics manufacturing facility and warehousing unit in Essential Drugs Company Limited's (EDCL) existing location at Gopalganj, with a capacity to manufacture 58 million vials of vaccines per year, said the regional development bank. An in-house research and development center will be established to support the production of diagnostic kits and packaging of biosimilar therapeutics. Read: ADB to provide $200 million to promote energy efficiency, transition in Bangladesh It will also support the manufacture of at least two full-cycle vaccines by developing a seed bank, master cell bank, and working cell bank, in addition to at least five fill-and-finish vaccines. “Bangladesh has attained remarkable success in implementing its vaccination programs supported by subsidized vaccines supplied through the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI). As Bangladesh graduates from the Least Developed Country status, the supply of vaccine from GAVI will gradually be phased out,” said Country Director Edimon Ginting.  “This project will help create vibrant ecosystem for vaccine production in the country, ensuring sustainable supply in the medium-term, and at the same time, building Bangladesh’s capacity to manage future pandemics better,” he added. The manufacturing facility will incorporate features to promote gender equality and social inclusion as well as green and resilient production using less energy and materials while reducing waste and carbon missions. The facility will seek certification from the World Health Organization (WHO) for good manufacturing practices (GMPs). The ADB loan will support the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) to upgrade its regulatory capacity to WHO maturity level 3 and beyond. ADB will help strengthen laboratory quality management and regulatory inspection systems while improving testing capacity modalities in compliance with WHO's Global Benchmarking Tool. Read: JICA to help improve Bangladesh’s justice delivery system It will create a stable, well-functioning, and integrated regulatory system; help foster international collaboration and trade; and improve private sector participation in Bangladesh's pharmaceutical industry. The project will help EDCL and DGDA train their staff in essential GMPs, quality assurance, quality control, validation, and calibration programs in compliance with the biosafety levels, according to ADB. The project is financed through ADB’s $9 billion Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility, launched in December 2020 to provide rapid and equitable vaccine-related support to ADB developing member countries. It builds on ADB’s $940 million support to Bangladesh to purchase safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 in June 2021. Read more: ADB provides $90 million for clean water, sanitation services in the Hill Tracts

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday told Parliament that the government will establish a top class vaccine institute in Bangladesh. “The present government has a plan to set up an international standard vaccine institute to produce vaccines as well as formulate a vaccine guideline, aiming to tackle various viral diseases, including the coronavirus pandemic,” she said replying to a tabled question from Awami League MP Anwar Hossain Khan (Laxmipur-1). The Prime Minister said if a vaccine institute is set up in the country, it will ensure vaccine production, related research and help strengthen the capacity of local vaccine-producing firms. Read: South-South cooperation: Hasina for setting up ‘Knowledge Centre’ in Bangladesh The management of vaccine production, usage and standards will be a more time-befitting one, she said. The establishment of an institute will ease vaccine production in the country through technology transfer of newly developed vaccine. So, vaccine will be available at a cheaper rate in Bangladesh, said Hasina. It will open the door of attaining WHO-prequalification for the new vaccine, which will help expand foreign market for the vaccines to be produced in Bangladesh, she said.

The head of the World Health Organization called Wednesday for a moratorium on administering booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines as a way to help ensure that doses are available in countries where few people have received their first shots. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the appeal mostly to wealthier countries that have far outpaced the developing world in numbers of vaccinations. He said richer countries have administered about 100 doses of coronavirus vaccines for every 100 people on average, while low-income countries — hampered by short supplies — have provided only about 1.5 doses per 100 people. WHO officials say the science is unproven about whether giving booster shots to people who have already received two vaccine doses is effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. Read: WHO reports sharp increase in Covid fatalities The U.N. health agency has repeatedly called for rich countries to do more to help improve access to vaccines in the developing world. It has argued that no one is safe until everyone is safe because the longer and more widely the coronavirus circulates, the greater the chance that new variants could emerge — and prolong a global crisis in fighting the pandemic. The agency has no power to require countries to act, and many in the past have ignored its appeals on issues like donating vaccines, limiting cross-border travel and taking steps to boost production of vaccines in developing countries. Tedros pointed to a WHO target he had announced in May seeking to ensure that 10% of the populations in all countries receive vaccines against the coronavirus. “Accordingly, WHO is calling for a moratorium on boosters until at least the end of September to enable at least 10% of the population of every country to be vaccinated,” he told a news conference. To help take the heat out of the pandemic, WHO has been focusing on getting vaccines to older adults, health care workers and other target populations in many countries before booster shot campaigns are carried out. Dr. Bruce Aylward, a special adviser to Tedros, said the moratorium was about an appeal to countries considering booster doses to “put a hold” on such policies “until and unless we get the rest of the world caught up” in the fight against the pandemic. Read: Countries have responsibility to help scientists find Covid origin: WHO ”As we’ve seen from the emergence of variant after variant, we cannot get out of it unless the whole world gets out of it together. And with the huge disparity in vaccination coverage, we’re simply not going to be able to achieve that,” Aylward said. Israel, France, Germany and many Middle Eastern countries have already started administering boosters, and other nations, including the United States and Britain, are considering plans to do so in the wake of the emergence of the highly transmissible delta variant. Dr. Katherine O’Brien, WHO’s vaccines chief, noted that a “very limited number” of countries were giving booster doses though a larger number were contemplating it. “The evidence is evolving. It’s moving. We don’t have a full set of evidence around whether this is needed or not,” O’Brien said, adding that the main message was that “we need instead to focus on those people who are most vulnerable.” Asked about the WHO position, White House press secretary Jen Psaki called it a “false choice” and suggested the United States could both donate vaccines abroad and provide boosters at home. “We announced just yesterday that we hit an important milestone of over 110 million vaccines donated to the world. That is more than any other country has shared combined,” she said. “We also, in this country, have enough supply, to ensure that every American has access to a vaccine. We will have enough supply to ensure, if the FDA decides that boosters are recommended for a portion of the population, to provide those as well.” WHO officials reiterated their call for global “solidarity” to help battle the coronavirus pandemic and appealed to wealthy countries and corporations to help. Read:Vaccine inequity biggest barrier to ending pandemic: WHO chief “We need everyone’s cooperation, especially the handful of countries and companies that control the global supply of vaccines,” Tedros said, appealing in particular to the influential Group of 20 large economies. “The G-20 has a vital leadership role to play as the countries that are the biggest producers, the biggest consumers and the biggest donors of COVID-19 vaccines.” He urged the G-20, which currently is chaired by Italy, to make “concrete commitments to support global vaccination targets.” “We call on everyone with influence — Olympic athletes, investors, business leaders, faith leaders and every individual in their own family and community — to support our call for a moratorium on booster shots until at least the end of September,” Tedros said.

PM’s Adviser for Private Industry and Investment Salman F Rahman has sought the assistance from the US government to encourage their vaccine-producing companies to partner with capable pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh. Recalling the two countries’ close cooperation in combating Covid-19 since the early days of the pandemic, Adviser Rahman stressed scaling up of the global production of the Covid-19 vaccines and other pandemic management equipment to tackle the virus. He also stated that Bangladesh is ready to make necessary investments for the capacity enhancement of pharmaceutical companies for such partnerships. Adviser Rahman and Senior Official for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment of the US Department of State Ambassador Marcia Bernicat discussed ways to have stronger collaboration on Covid-19 front. Bangladesh and the US have expressed willingness to work more closely to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, including partnership, in vaccine production. Read: Countries like Bangladesh need support for vaccine production: FM

Countries like Bangladesh that have the capability of producing vaccines should be allowed and supported in producing those, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said. He made the proposal while delivering his speech at the Asia Pacific high-level conference on Belt and Road Cooperation on “Promoting Cooperation on Combating the Pandemic for Sustainable Recovery” held virtually on Wednesday night. Wang Yi, State Councillor and Foreign Minister of China, chaired the meeting. Also read: Covid vaccine apparently emerged as another tool of exploitation: FM Under the robust leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Dr Momen said, Bangladesh achieved success in managing the first wave of cornonavirus. "However, we are facing difficulty in the second wave due to shortage of vaccines," he said. Despite all good intentions, their actions will go in vain if the availability, access, and distribution of necessary finance are not in place for recovery from this crisis, Dr Momen said. "Given the scale of threat posed by COVID19, we need a globally harmonised structure of financial infrastructure," he said. In his five-point proposal, Dr Momen sought rapid information sharing nationally and globally through digital means e.g. live data, in a time-sensitive manner; taking globally united and coordinated efforts to combat against the common enemy; stronger and concerted advocacy with the vaccine producing states to strengthen COVAX by WHO, while ensuring ‘free to choose’; and to ensure that no one is left behind, to declare the Covid-19 vaccines a global public good, and to implement its distribution through strong international cooperation. Also read: Serum may resume vaccine export in July/August Although the Covid-19 pandemic has not spared any country from its devastating impacts, the least developed and developing countries are the most affected, he said. "This is happening while the same groups of countries are already grappling with the adverse ramifications of climate change." The Foreign Minister said timely sharing of transparent and correct information at the national, regional and global level is of the essence in abating the impacts of Covid-19 crisis. This calls for fortification of digital infrastructure, both intra and inter-nations, for smooth transmission of critical data on issues inter-alia country experience, management, and best proven interventions, he said. Such data sharing would help in augmenting country and region-specific information tools for better policy devising, Dr Momen said. He said vaccines remain the centrepiece in the effective fight against the pandemic. "Bangladesh believes that vaccines should be declared as a global public good." He said it is encouraging to see countries like China playing important roles for availability of vaccines. "The COVAX initiative by WHO is highly laudable. Thus, to realise the objectives of such multilateral efforts, we need transitioning to non-linear, big data driven, and prioritised supply chain systems to ensure availability, access, and affordability of vaccines to build back better and stronger socio-economically," he said. Dr Momen said infrastructure will play a critical role in this regard. "Bangladesh is ready and willing to work with the BRI partners to develop sustainable infrastructures for the benefit of the peoples in Asia-Pacific." Also read: Vaccine production in Bangladesh: Experts 'vehemently against private sector’s engagement' "At the same time, through our Chairmanship of the 48-member Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) and V20, we are going the extra mile in ensuring a climate resilient recovery from this pandemic not only for ourselves but also for the whole membership CVF," he said.  

India, depending on the scale of production of vaccines within the country, is aiming at July-end or August to at least release those vaccines that have been bought by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal and are now in pending status, reported The Print on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami had an "informal meeting" with State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam on Wednesday at his office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, neither side revealed what they discussed. Also read: Let's see what can be done, have patience: PM about vaccine management Bangladesh entered into a deal with the Serum Institute of India (SII) to purchase 30 million doses of a potential vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca for Covid-19. Bangladesh was supposed to get five million doses of vaccine per month as the SII and Bangladesh’s Beximco Pharma signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for priority delivery of the vaccine doses. Also read: Bangladesh rolls out Pfizer vaccine at 3 Dhaka centers Bangladesh sought at least 3 million doses of vaccine under the agreement to address the immediate demand in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has so far received only 7 million of Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine doses produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) through its contract. Bangladesh also received 3.3 million doses of vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift.

Though local pharmaceutical companies are showing a growing interest in either procuring or manufacturing Covid vaccines, local health experts say it is the government, not the private sector that should collect or produce jabs for ensuring their quality, affordability, and accessibility.  They also voiced doubt about the capabilities of the three companies that proposed the government to manufacture Russia's Sputnik V vaccine in Bangladesh. The analysts suggested the government assess whether the Institute of Public Health (IPH) or state-owned Essential Drugs Company Limited (EDCL) can be modernised within a short period of time to manufacture Covid vaccines. Read Bangladesh to get 106,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine on June 2: Health Ministry Private initiatives Robed Amin, the spokesman of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said three local companies -- Incepta, Unihealth and Popular pharmaceuticals -- have shown their interest in manufacturing Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. He said the companies gave their proposals to the government for producing the same vaccine and their capabilities will be scrutinised. Besides, the DGHS official said Renata Limited, another Bangladeshi pharmaceutical company, has sought permission from the government to import Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine and discussions are going on in this regard. Robed said the government is also assessing the prospect of manufacturing any vaccine here either by private companies or any public institution. Read: Will do our best to support vaccine rollout in neighbouring countries: India Are they capable of manufacturing? Though the three companies are talking about manufacturing vaccines, Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, former director (Disease Control), DGHS, said he has a doubt about their capacity to do so. He said these companies can import vaccines in bulk from Russia or China for marketing it after bottling or packaging here. “But it’ll take a plenty of time to meet the demand through importing vaccines in bulk. The government should seriously evaluate the capacities of the companies applied for permission to produce vaccines.” Dr Be-Nazir said Incepta is currently importing tetanus vaccine in bulk from abroad and marketing it through bottling here.  Read: Covid vaccines should be declared as global public goods: PM Hasina Prof Muzaherul Huq, a former adviser to WHO South-East Asia region, also thinks these companies are not well-equipped to manufacture the vaccine. “Bangladeshi companies surely produce very quality medicine. But they don’t have adequate preparations and facilities to produce the Covid vaccine. As some companies are showing their interest in manufacturing it, their capacity should be properly examined.”

The global Covid-19 caseload surpassed 153 million on Tuesday morning, with the world literally struggling to contain the second outbreak of the virus. According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count and fatalities now stand at 153,185,370 and 3,209,657, respectively. The US is the world's worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths. The country is expected to authorise Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for youngsters aged 12 to 15 by next week. Read Also: ‘Horrible’ weeks ahead as India’s virus catastrophe worsens The US has logged 32,470,823 cases, with 577,500 fatalities, as of Tuesday morning, according to the university data. India’s total Covid tally is fast approaching the 20-million mark, second after the US. The total case count in the South Asian country has reached 19,925,604, while the death toll from the virus mounted to 218,959, according to the health ministry. Brazil's Covid-19 death toll reached 408,622 after 983 more deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said on Monday. Meanwhile, tests detected 24,619 new infections during the same period, taking its nationwide tally to 14,779,529. Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest outbreak, behind the United States and India. Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh Bangladesh on Monday reported 65 more coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours, raising the death toll to 11,644. The health authorities recorded 1,739 new infections after examining 13,431 samples, according to data available at corona.gov.bd.  A handout from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) put the number of tests at 19,431, including antigen tests. Read Also: Covid-19: Bangladesh records more 65 deaths, 1,739 new cases Bangladesh has been recording less than 70 virus-related deaths since Friday. The body count soared to over 100 during April 16-19 and on April 25 but since then the daily fatalities have been falling gradually. With the latest figure, 7,63,682 cases have been recorded in the country so far, the Directorate General of Health Services said. This puts Bangladesh at 33rd in the list of countries with highest cases, according to Johns Hopkins tally. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year. Lockdown continues till May 16 The ongoing lockdown, imposed on April 5, has been extended till May 16. People, however, are hardly following health safety rules. They are still crowding shopping malls and markets ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest festival of the Muslims.  Photos and videos shot by UNB lensmen show overcrowded shopping places and total indifference towards health guidelines. There will hardly be any positive outcome if  people don’t follow health rules to protect themselves and others around them from coronavirus, according to experts. Meanwhile, intra-district public transport services will be allowed to resume from May 6. Read Also: Lockdown to continue until May 16, intra-district public transport services from May 6 Vaccination drive Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine it acquired from the Serum Institute of India. Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record surge in Covid cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain. DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam has assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of the vaccine by the first week of May. In the past 24 hours, 53 people have received the first dose and 1, 30,547 have received the second dose of the Covid vaccine, said the DGHS handout. However, the registration process for receiving the vaccine jab remains shut. Read Also: Vaccines to be procured at any expense, says PM Hasina Vaccine production The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on April 28 approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh. The government on April 29 approved the emergency use of Sinopharm, a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine, a day after approving the emergency use of Sputnik V vaccine of Russia. “We’ll get 5 lakh doses of the Chinese vaccine as gift within 7-10 days. Then we’ll start distribution. Then the government will start buying those on G2G basis,” Mahbubur Rahman, Director General of DGDA, told reporters. Incepta Pharmaceuticals, Popular Pharma and Health Care Pharma have the capacity to produce Covid vaccines, and the Chinese vaccine could be produced locally, Mahbubur Rahman said. On April 28, Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division, said the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russia and China through direct procurement method (DPM).