Bangladesh wants to buy another 4 crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca corona vaccine Covishield, produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII). The government has contacted Seram for this.
Reuters quoted Bangladesh Health Secretary Abdul Mannan as saying in a report on Thursday (March 4) that talks were underway with the Seram Institute to buy the vaccine.
However, when contacted with the Seram Institute of India, they declined to comment.
Bangladesh, a country of more than 16 crore people, has already received 70 lakh doses in two consignments out of 3 crore doses of vaccine as per the agreement with Seram Institute.
Earlier, the Indian government had given 20 lakh doses of the vaccine as a gift, also the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced at the Serum Institute, which they are marketing under the name Covishield.
The health secretary told Reuters that Bangladesh is supposed to receive 6 crore 80 lakh doses of the vaccine from the World Health Organization (WHO) under the Covax program. About one crore doses are expected to be available by June.
The goal of this WHO program is to distribute vaccines fairly among all countries in the world.
According to WHO and UNICEF, a portion of the first shipment of covid vaccines will be delivered in a few low- and middle-income countries.
Mannan added that Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited is currently the sole distributor of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Bangladesh, but the government has not yet decided who will administer the SII in the future.
"We have not ordered any additional doses of corona vaccine," said Rabbur Reza, chief operating officer (COO) of Beximco Pharmaceuticals, in response to a Reuters’ question. So far we have ordered a total of 3 crore doses. The issue of additional orders will depend on the government.