AstraZeneca
Bangladesh seeks at least 2 mln doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Canada
Bangladesh has sought at least 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Canada on an emergency basis to meet the emergency need of 1.6 million doses of the vaccine to provide second doses.
"This is at present a high priority for Bangladesh," said Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen during his meeting with Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Benoit Préfontaine on Tuesday.
Referring to recent statement of Canadian Procurement Minister Anita Anand that Canadian Government might distribute excess stockpiles of AstraZeneca vaccine among developing countries, Dr Momen urged the Canadian High Commissioner to pursue his Government so that Bangladesh receives AstraZeneca vaccine from Canada.
He also underscored that such supply of vaccine should be directly sent to Bangladesh, as has been done for some other countries like Pakistan, rather than through the COVAX programme of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The main point of discussion was on the possibility of receiving AstraZeneca vaccine from Canada to meet up immediate second dose vaccine requirements in Bangladesh.
Dr Momen said Bangladesh acted fast on collecting vaccine by concluding the agreement with the Serum Institute in India to procure 30 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and is now in a difficult situation as only 10.2 million doses of vaccine has been received from India.
He said the prospect of getting more is low due to the ongoing massive COVID-19 outbreak in India.
Dr Momen also proposed that Canada may help vaccinating forcibly displaced Rohingyas in Bangladesh separately.
Foreign Minister Momen also apprised the Canadian High Commissioner of the Government’s efforts to acquire vaccine from some other countries including China, Russia and the US.
The Canadian High Commissioner assured that he will follow up with his government about Bangladesh’s request to provide 2 million doses of vaccine immediately, which is also being followed up with the Canadian Government by Bangladesh High Commission in Ottawa.
The Bangladesh Foreign Minister also thanked Canada for its continued strong political and humanitarian support for the Rohingya crisis, underscoring that sustainable return of the Rohingyas to Myanmar is the solution.
He also reiterated Bangladesh’s expectation that Canada would extend Duty Free Quota Free (DFQF) access to Bangladeshi export products till 2027, and also would commence negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) or Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Bangladesh soon.
Dr Momen reiterated Bangladesh’s strong expectation that Nur Chowdhury, the convicted killer of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, would be returned back to Bangladesh in near future.
High Commissioner Préfontaine stated that Canada would continue its humanitarian support for displaced Rohingyas and host communities at the same scale for next three years, as was reflected in their budgetary framework for next three years.
He also underscored that Canada is willing to enhance its economic cooperation with Bangladesh, including in areas of trade and investment.
Indonesia suspends AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine batch after death
The Indonesian government said Sunday (May 16, 2021) it has suspended the distribution and use of a batch of AstraZeneca Plc's coronavirus vaccine following the death of a 22-year-old man a day after his inoculation with the vaccine.
The Ministry of Health called the suspension "a prudent effort by the government to ensure the safety of the vaccine," and said it plans to continue to use other batches of the vaccine it has received.
Also read: Denmark stops AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine rollout
The results of sterility and toxicity tests by the Drug and Food Monitoring Agency are expected to come out within one to two weeks.
The batch in question, consisting of about 450,000 doses, arrived last month. It is part of the 3,852,000 AstraZeneca doses that Indonesia has received through the World Health Organization-backed COVAX facility.
Also read: Governments give varying advice on AstraZeneca vaccine
COVAX is an international vaccine distribution platform set up to ensure equitable access to shots for developing countries.
Local media reported that the man received a jab from the batch in the capital Jakarta on May 5 and died the next day. The batch had been distributed to Jakarta and North Sulawesi Province in central Indonesia, as well as to the military, according to the ministry.
Also read: EU agency: Rare clots possibly linked to AstraZeneca shot
Indonesia has fully inoculated almost 9 million of its 187 million eligible citizens under a nationwide vaccination drive that started in mid-January.
More support easing vaccine patent rules, but hurdles remain
Several world leaders Thursday praised the U.S. call to remove patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help poor countries obtain shots. But the proposal faces a multitude of hurdles, including resistance from the pharmaceutical industry.
Nor is it clear what effect such a step might have on the campaign to vanquish the outbreak.
Activists and humanitarian institutions cheered after the U.S. reversed course Wednesday and called for a waiver of intellectual property protections on the vaccine. The decision ultimately is up to the 164-member World Trade Organization, and if just one country votes against a waiver, the proposal will fail.
The Biden administration announcement made the U.S. the first country in the developed world with big vaccine manufacturing to publicly support the waiver idea floated by India and South Africa in October. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron embraced it as well.
“I completely favor this opening up of the intellectual property,” Macron said at a vaccine center.
However, like many pharmaceutical companies, Macron insisted that a waiver would not solve the problem of access to vaccines. He said manufacturers in places like Africa are not now equipped to make COVID-19 vaccines, so donations of shots from wealthier countries should be given priority instead.
Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca — all companies with licensed COVID-19 vaccines — had no immediate comment, though Moderna has long said it will not pursue rivals for patent infringement during the pandemic.
Also read: US tribe shares vaccine with relatives, neighbors in Canada
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the urgency of moving fast now.
“On the current trajectory, if we don’t do more, if the entire world doesn’t do more, the world won’t be vaccinated until 2024,” he said in an interview with NBC while visiting Ukraine.
India, as expected, welcomed the move. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the U.S. position “great news.”
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on Facebook that the U.S. announcement was “a very important signal” and that the world needs “free access” to vaccine patents. But Italian Premier Mario Draghi was more circumspect.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would support it. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the U.S. decision too.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office spoke out against it, saying: “The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future.”
Also read: US support behind vaccine patent waiver ‘monumental moment’ in Covid fight: WHO
A Merkel spokeswoman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said Germany is focused instead on how to increase vaccine manufacturers’ production capacity.
In Brazil, one of the deadliest COVID-19 hot spots in the world, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said he fears that the country does not have the means to produce vaccines and that the lifting of patent protections could interfere with Brazil’s efforts to buy doses from pharmaceutical companies.
In closed-door talks at the WTO in recent months, Australia, Britain, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Norway, Singapore and the United States opposed the waiver idea, according to a Geneva-based trade official who was not authorized the discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Some 80 countries, mostly developing ones, have supported the proposal, the official said. China and Russia — two other major COVID-19 vaccine makers — didn’t express a position but were open to further discussion, the official said.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-nation bloc is ready to talk about the idea, but she remained noncommittal and emphasized that the EU has been exporting vaccines widely — while the U.S. has not.
EU leaders said the bloc may discuss the matter at a summit that starts Friday.
Also read: US backs waiving intellectual property rules on vaccines
The pharmaceutical industry has argued that a waiver will do more harm than good in the long run.
Easing patent protections would eat into their profits, potentially reducing the incentives that push companies to innovate and make the kind of tremendous leaps they did with the COVID-19 vaccines, which have been churned out at a blistering, unprecedented pace.
The industry has contended, too, that production of the vaccines is complicated and can’t be ramped up simply by easing patent rights. Instead, it has said that reducing snarls in supply chains and shortages of ingredients is a more pressing issue.
The industry has insisted that a faster solution would be for rich countries to share their vaccine stockpiles with poorer ones.
“A waiver is the simple but the wrong answer to what is a complex problem,” said the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations. “Waiving patents of COVID-19 vaccines will not increase production nor provide practical solutions needed to battle this global health crisis.”
Intellectual property law expert Shyam Balganesh, a professor at Columbia University, said a waiver would only go so far because of bottlenecks in the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines.
Also read: EU medicine regulator starts rolling review of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine
Backers of the waiver say that expanded production by the big pharmaceutical companies and donations from richer countries to poor ones won’t be enough, and that there are manufacturers standing by that could make the vaccines if given the blueprints.
“A waiver of patents for #COVID19 vaccines & medicines could change the game for Africa, unlocking millions more vaccine doses & saving countless lives,” World Health Organization Africa chief Matshidiso Moeti tweeted.
Just over 20 million vaccine doses have been administered across the African continent, which has 1.3 billion people.
There is precedent: In 2003, WTO members agreed to waive patent rights and allow poorer countries to import generic treatments for the AIDS virus, malaria and tuberculosis.
“We believe that when the history of this pandemic is written, history will remember the move by the U.S. government as doing the right thing at the right time,” Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said.
US will share AstraZeneca vaccines with world
The U.S. will begin sharing its entire pipeline of vaccines from AstraZeneca once the COVID-19 vaccine clear federal safety reviews, the White House told The Associated Press on Monday, with as many as 60 million doses expected to be available for export in the coming months.
The move greatly expands on the Biden administration’s action last month to share about 4 million doses of the vaccine with Mexico and Canada. The AstraZeneca vaccine is widely in use around the world but not yet authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The move comes as the White House is increasingly assured about the supply of the three vaccines being administered in the U.S., particularly following the restart of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson shot over the weekend.
Also read: Governments give varying advice on AstraZeneca vaccine
“Given the strong portfolio of vaccines that the U.S. already has and that have been authorized by the FDA, and given that the AstraZeneca vaccine is not authorized for use in the U.S., we do not need to use the AstraZeneca vaccine here during the next several months,” said White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients. “Therefore the U.S. is looking at options to share the AstraZeneca doses with other countries as they become available.”
More than 3 million people worldwide have died of COVID-19.
About 10 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine have been produced but have yet to pass review by the FDA to “meet its expectations for product quality,” Zients said. That process could be completed in the next several weeks. About 50 million more doses are in various stages of production and could be available to ship in May and June pending FDA sign-off.
The U.S. has yet to finalize where the AstraZeneca doses will go, Zients said. Neighbors Mexico and Canada have asked the Biden administration to share more doses, while dozens of other countries are looking to access supplies of the vaccine. The doses will be donated by the U.S. government, which has contracted with the company for a total of 300 million doses — though the company has faced production issues.
AstraZeneca’s doses in the U.S. were produced at an Emergent BioSolutions plant in Baltimore that has come under increased regulatory and public scrutiny after botching batches of the J&J vaccine. The U.S. pressed J&J to take over the plant and, as part of the effort to ensure the quality of newly produced vaccines, directed the facility to stop making the AstraZeneca shot. AstraZeneca is still looking to identify a new U.S. production facility for its future doses.
Also read: Australia halts AstraZeneca vaccine for most people under 50
AstraZeneca’s vaccine was initially expected to be the first to receive federal emergency authorization, and the U.S. government ordered enough for 150 million Americans before issues with the vaccine’s clinical trial held up clearance. The company’s 30,000-person U.S. trial didn’t complete enrollment until January, and it has still not filed for an emergency use authorization with the FDA.
Hopeful of getting rest of vaccine doses from India as scheduled: FM
Despite its high demand in India, Dhaka hopes that New Delhi will supply the rest of the Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine doses produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) to Bangladesh as agreed between the two countries with other options open.
“India is telling us that it’ll (March consignment) come but yet to arrive. We believe in their assurance,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told UNB in an interview at his residence.
He said Bangladesh received 3.2 million doses of vaccine as a gift from India but the consignment of 5 million doses that was scheduled to arrive in March from India is yet to come.
Read Covishield and Covaxin: What we know about India's Covid-19 vaccines
Bangladesh has purchased three crore doses of the vaccine from the Serum Institute and the first shipment of 50 lakh arrived here in January last week while the second consignment of 20 lakh doses of Covid-19 came in February.
The Foreign Minister acknowledged the high demand of vaccines globally, including the demand by some political leaders in India to halt export.
“I think it won’t be applicable for us as we’ve made arrangements and made advance payment. India announced the vaccine will be delivered as per schedule. And we believe it,” Dr Momen said.
Also read: Funding for vaccine procurement earmarked in deals with WB, ADB: Dr Meerjady
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to place an immediate moratorium on the export of vaccines, fast track approval of other vaccines and open up vaccination to everyone who needs it.
Denmark stops AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine rollout
Denmark on Wednesday decided to entirely cease administering the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, said the country's health authority during a joint press conference with the Danish Medicines.
"Based on the scientific findings, our overall assessment is there is a real risk of severe side effects associated with using the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca. We have, therefore, decided to remove the vaccine from our vaccination program," said Soren Brostrom, director general of the Danish Health Authority.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the authority also claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic was "currently under control" in Denmark, adding that this had contributed to the decision.
Denmark first suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 11, citing "very rare but severe side effects" discovered during the jab's safety monitoring.
Also read: UK advises limiting AstraZeneca in under-30s amid clot worry
Denmark's decision on Wednesday to ditch the AstraZeneca shot came on the heels of the European Medical Agency's (EMA) recent verdict that "the benefits of using the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca continue to outweigh the risks for people who receive it."
The Danish Health Authority agrees with the EMA's general findings, Brostrom said, adding that
"In the midst of an epidemic, it has been a difficult decision to continue our vaccination program without an effective and readily available vaccine against COVID-19."
However, the authority referred to further comments by the EMA that the "use of the vaccine during vaccination campaigns at the national level should also consider the pandemic situation and vaccine availability in each individual country."
Also read: EU agency: Rare clots possibly linked to AstraZeneca shot
"We are basically in agreement with the EMA's assessment regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine. That is why it is important to emphasize that it is still an approved vaccine," said Brostrom.
"But if Denmark were in a completely different situation and in the midst of a violent third outbreak ... and if we had not reached such an advanced point in our rollout of the vaccines ... then I would not hesitate to use the vaccine, even if there were rare but severe complications associated with using it."
According to the Statens Serum Institut's (SSI) updated overview, 149,884 people in Denmark have received at least one shot and 596 both shots of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine.
"Those who have received the first injection with AstraZeneca will later receive an invitation to vaccination with another vaccine," the health authority said.
Also read: What we know about AstraZeneca blood clot reports
Meanwhile, Denmark continues to administer the vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
In total, 995,672 Danes have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, which corresponds to 17 percent of the population, the SSI said on Wednesday.
Australia won’t buy J&J coronavirus vaccine
The Australian government has decided against buying the single-dose Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine as a way to accelerate its immunization program.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said Tuesday the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is similar to the AstraZeneca product, which Australia already contracted to buy.
Also read: Merck to help produce rival J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine
Australia had planned to rely on Australian-manufactured AstraZeneca with the goal of delivering at least one dose of vaccine to all eligible adults among a population of 26 million by October. But the government announced last week that the Pfizer vaccine is now the preferred option for people under 50 because of a potential health risk from AstraZeneca.
Australia has doubled its Pfizer order to 40 million doses. Australia had acquired 3.7 doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines by Monday and had injected 1.2 million doses.
Governments give varying advice on AstraZeneca vaccine
In Spain, residents now have to be over 60 to get an AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. In Belgium, over 55. In the United Kingdom, authorities recommend the shot not be given to adults under 30 where possible, and Australia’s government announced similar limits Thursday to AstraZeneca shots for those under 50.
A patchwork of advice was emerging from governments across Europe and farther afield, a day after the European Union’s drug regulator said there was a “possible link” between the AstraZeneca vaccine and a rare clotting disorder while reiterating the vaccine is safe and effective.
Regulators in the United Kingdom and the EU both stressed that the benefits of receiving the vaccine continue to outweigh the risks for most people, and the EU agency maintained its guidance that the vaccine can be used in all adults. But experts fear the confusing messages about the vaccine could still dampen enthusiasm for it at a time when Europe and many other parts of the world are facing surging cases.
Experts hammered home the rarity of the clots Thursday.
“The risks appear to be extremely low from this very rare side effect,” Anthony R. Cox, of the University of Birmingham’s School of Pharmacy, told the BBC. “I mean it’s the equivalent of the risk of dying in the bath, drowning in the bath, for example, it’s that rare, or a plane landing on your house.”
Also read: UK advises limiting AstraZeneca in under-30s amid clot worry
Dr. Sabine Straus, chair of the EU regulator’s Safety Committee, said the best data was from Germany, where there was one report of the clots for every 100,000 doses given, although she noted far fewer reports in the U.K. Still, that’s less than the clot risk that healthy women face from birth control pills, noted another expert, Dr. Peter Arlett. The agency said most of the cases reported were in women under 60 within two weeks of vaccination, though it was unable to identify specific risk factors based on current information.
The EU is trying, but so far failing, to avoid different policies among its 27 nations, which all look to the European Medicines Agency for guidance. Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides called Wednesday evening for a coherent approach to ensure that “on the basis of the same set of evidence, similar decisions are taken in different member states.”
News of the tiny risk already is already having an effect. In Croatia, the government said that one in four people due to get an AstraZeneca shot Thursday didn’t show up. Poland, too, has also seen people cancel or not appear for appointments to get the vaccine.
French general practitioner Dr. Joel Valendoff said many of his patients were still coming to get their shot, but many others were canceling.
When vaccines first became available, “I was refusing people because I had a lot of demand and not enough vaccines. Today I am facing the opposite. I have vaccines but not enough volunteers.”
Also read: EU agency: Rare clots possibly linked to AstraZeneca shot
Mbaye Thiam, a 59-year-old Parisian, was among those who got vaccinated.
“I am closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation throughout the world. I am not worried. In an exceptional situation we need exceptional measures,” he said. “It is true that the vaccine was created in a record time, but the world has stopped and we need solutions to make it start again, and the vaccine is one of the solutions.”
European Commission spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker said the EMA’s findings were based on its stringent monitoring system and that should promote trust among the bloc’s 27 member states.
“We want to avoid, of course, a vaccination hesitancy,” he said.
Any such reluctance is worrying since experts say the shots are key to stamping out the coronavirus pandemic, but AstraZeneca’s role is especially vital. The vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to store than many others, is critical to immunization campaigns in Europe and the U.K. and is also a pillar of the U.N.-backed program known as COVAX that aims to get vaccines to some of the world’s poorest countries.
John Nkengasong, the top official with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said his group is not issuing new recommendations and that the overarching message from the U.K. and EU regulators was clear.
Also read: UK regulator says AstraZeneca jab safe after 7 clot deaths
“The benefits outweigh the risks because these are very rare occurrences that they are picking up due to very strong surveillance systems that they have put in place,” Nkengasong told a briefing. “So, I think these vaccines continue to be safe.”
Africa’s target is to vaccinate 60% of its 1.3 billion people by the end of 2022 — a goal that could prove extremely hard to achieve without widespread use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose country’s vaccination program leans heavily on AstraZeneca’s shot, announced that the Pfizer vaccine should be adopted as the preferred vaccine for people under 50.
“We’ve been taking the necessary precautions based on the best possible medical advice,” Morrison said. “It has not been our practice to jump at shadows.”
Some EU nations were at pains to stress the safety and did not change their advice.
The Polish state TV broadcaster used a headline declaring, “AstraZeneca is safe.”
The head of Italy’s drug regulator, Nicola Magrini, appealed for calm even as she said late Wednesday that Italy will pivot from primarily using the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under 65 to using it on those over 60.
Also read: What we know about AstraZeneca blood clot reports
Underscoring how such changing rules were causing confusion and anxiety, the governor of the Veneto region said operators had fielded 8,000 calls about AstraZeneca in recent days. “Obviously there is some uneasiness spreading,” Luca Zaia told reporters.
Hungarian government minister Gergely Gulyas called the EMA announcement “a clear decision which is in line with the point of view of Hungarian authorities: AstraZeneca is reliable and provides protection.”
German officials made clear that they will stick to their current recommendation — issued March 30 when concerns about the rare clots were already circulating — to restrict the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to people over 60 in most cases, in line with larger European nations including Spain and Italy.
In the Croatian capital, Zagreb, Josip Pavlic was among a large group of masked people who lined up for an AstraZeneca vaccination. He said he would take any shot, as infections rise sharply in the country.
“They are all the same to me. The most important is the we have vaccine, and that we can have some protection with vaccine,” he said.
COVAX reaches over 100 economies, 42 days after first international delivery
More than one hundred economies have received life-saving COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX, the global mechanism for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, says the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday.
The milestone comes 42 days after the first COVAX doses were shipped and delivered internationally, to Ghana on 24 February 2021.
COVAX has now delivered more than 38 million doses across six continents, supplied by three manufacturers, AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and the Serum Institute of India (SII).
Of the over 100 economies reached, 61 are among the 92 lower-income economies receiving vaccines funded through the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC).
Despite reduced supply availability in March and April – the result of vaccine manufacturers scaling and optimizing their production processes in the early phase of the rollout, as well as increased demand for COVID-19 vaccines in India – COVAX expects to deliver doses to all participating economies that have requested vaccines in the first half of the year.
Also read: Covishield and Covaxin: What we know about India's Covid-19 vaccines
“In four months since the very first mass vaccination outside a clinical setting anywhere in the world, it is tremendously gratifying that the roll-out of COVAX doses has already reached one hundred countries,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Berkley said COVAX may be on track to deliver to all participating economies in the first half of the year yet they still face a daunting challenge as they seek to end the acute stage of the pandemic: they will only be safe when everybody is safe and our efforts to rapidly accelerate the volume of doses depend on the continued support of governments and vaccine manufacturers.
“As we continue with the largest and most rapid global vaccine rollout in history, this is no time for complacency.”
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said COVAX has given the world the best way to ensure the fastest, most equitable rollout of safe and effective vaccines to all at-risk people in every country on the planet.
Also read: ‘We sink or we swim together’: 5 things you need to know about COVAX
“If we are going to realize this great opportunity, countries, producers and the international system must come together to prioritize vaccine supply through COVAX. Our collective future, literally, depends on it.”
Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) this is a significant milestone in the fight against COVID-19. “Faced with the rapid spread of COVID-19 variants, global access to vaccines is fundamentally important to reduce the prevalence of the disease, slow down viral mutation, and hasten the end of the pandemic.”
“In just a month and a half, the ambition of granting countries access to COVID vaccines is becoming a reality, thanks to the outstanding work of our partners in the COVAX Facility,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director.
“However, this is no time to celebrate; it is time to accelerate. With variants emerging all over the world, we need to speed up global rollout. To do this, we need governments, along with other partners, to take necessary steps to increase supply, including by simplifying barriers to intellectual property rights, eliminating direct and indirect measures that restrict exports of COVID-19 vaccines, and donating excess vaccine doses as quickly as possible.”
Also read: WHO calls for prioritising vaccine contracts with COVAX
According to its latest supply forecast, COVAX expects to deliver at least 2 billion doses of vaccines in 2021. In order to reach this goal, the COVAX Facility will continue to diversify its portfolio further, and will announce new agreements with vaccine manufacturers in due course.
Furthermore, in March it was announced that the United States government will host the launch event for the 2021 Gavi COVAX AMC Invest Opportunity to catalyze further commitment and support for accelerated access to vaccines for AMC-supported economies.
An additional US$ 2 billion is required in 2021 to finance and secure up to a total of 1.8 billion donor-funded doses of vaccines. COVAX is also working to secure additional sourcing of vaccines in the form of dose-sharing from higher income countries.
Bangladesh begins second phase of Covid-19 vaccination drive
Bangladesh Thursday began its second phase of inoculating people against the coronavirus disease amid uncertainty around vaccine availablity.
State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury got his second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University. He took the first shot of the vaccine at the same medical facility on February 8.
Also Read: Covid vaccination in Bangladesh to start in first week of Feb
“We should not depend only on vaccines to be free of coronavirus. Everyone should be more aware and abide by the health directives issued by the government,” the Minister said after receiving the jab.
State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak also got his second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at BSMMU, while Textile and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi received the jab at the National Heart Institute, Dhaka.
The government is supposed to get 50 lakh doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine every month as per a deal between India's Serum Institute and Bangladeshi pharma company Beximco.
The country has so far received two shipments of 70 lakh doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. Apart from this, Bangladesh received two consignments of 32 lakh doses of the vaccine as gifts from India.