Bangladesh is going to produce vaccine against Covid-19 shortly, said high officials concerned of the government.
According to sources, the vaccine would be manufactured in the country’s Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) laboratory.
Aimed at tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, the government took the initiative within a year of the pandemic that began in China in the month of February last year.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier on February 27 at first disclosed the information at a press conference organised immediately after the Bangladesh had been graduated as a developing country from the least developed nation.
The Prime Minister in her speech mentioned that the government was taking steps so that vaccine could be produced in the country.
Outlining plans for vaccine production in the country with the permission of the companies that are producing the vaccines, the Prime Minister said, "Our country will be able to produce the vaccine if necessary.”
“I have already asked different pharmaceutical companies in the country who are able do it. The companies have been asked to get ready for it. We are also looking into whether ingredients could be brought or managed”, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said.
Meanwhile, Health and Family Welfare Minister Jahid Malek on March 8 said the Prime Minister has directed them to take necessary steps for the production of vaccines against the COVID-19 in the country.
“We also have started working as per the directives of the Prime Minister”, said the Health and Family Welfare Minister while speaking at a function held at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).
The Health Minister said, “The vaccine will be produced in the lab of the DGDA and hopefully, the lab will get the approval of the World Health Organization (WHO) soon.”
The Health Minister further said the country has many giant companies, which are capable of producing the vaccine and those companies have been asked to take necessary measures.
“A lab is required to produce this vaccine and the DGDA have such a lab. That lab is getting ready for the vaccine production ”, the Health Minister said .After Bangladesh’s application, the WHO already gave some instructions. And vaccines will be produced in Bangladesh as per the instructions of the WHO.
An official of the Health and Family Welfare said that Bangladesh will produce the COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with a foreign company.
Bangladesh launched its nationwide vaccination drive on February 7 after the Prime Minister inaugurated vaccination programme on January 27. The country is now inoculating the vaccine of the Oxford-AstraZeneca produced at the Seram Institute of India. Around 40 lakh of the people already have been vaccinated with the first dose so far. The second dose has to be taken between 8 and 12 weeks of the first one.
The government is providing the vaccine for free. It signed an agreement with India's Serum Institute for acquiring 30 million doses of the vaccine. The institute will provide five million doses every month between January and June.
Besides, with the latest figure as of Wednesday, the COVID-19 fatalities climbed to 8,496. A total of 5,53,105 people were infected and 5,06,613 of them (91.59 percent) already have recovered.
Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8, 2020 and the first death on March 18 in the same year. Authorities have so far tested 4,197,970 samples, including 17,032 in the past 24 hours.
Moreover, the global death toll from the COVID-19 rose to 26,09,992 till Wednesday and the number of people infected worldwide was 11,75,37,686.
The total COVID-19 cases in the US which remains the world’s worst-hit country crossed 29 million. The country’s caseload reached 29,093,946 and the death toll mounted to 527,643.