Govt decides to buy Sinopharm shots

Bangladesh will purchase Covid-19 vaccines from China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).

The move was approved at a meeting of The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, confirmed Shahida Akhtar, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division yesterday.

She said this while talking to journalists following the meeting.

"Apart from the five lakh doses gifted by China, Bangladesh will buy more vaccines from the country," she said.

Earlier, the government has signed a non-disclosure agreement with its Chinese counterpart on purchasing Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine and producing it here.

Bangladesh last month signed an NDA with Russia for the production of Sputnik V vaccine here.

Zahid said during discussions they proposed buying two to three crore vaccine doses from China.

Bangladesh has already received five lakh shots of the Sinopharm vaccine from China as a gift. It is likely to be administered to people from May 25.

On April 29, the government approved the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use.

On the same day, the government approved in principle local co-production of the vaccine involving Bangladeshi drug makers.

Early last year, the Beijing Institute of Biological Products developed an inactivated coronavirus vaccine called BBIBP-CorV.

On December 30 last year, China's state-owned company Sinopharm announced that the vaccine has an efficacy rate of 79.34 percent. The Chinese government then approve it.

China, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Pakistan, and some other countries are currently using it.

The vaccine has already been given to millions of people in China and elsewhere in the world. It is administered in two doses 28 days apart.

On May 7 this year, World Health Organization granted emergency approval to the Sinopharm vaccine, the first one developed by a non-Western country to have got WHO backing.

GOVT APPROVED DIRECT PURCHASE OF 40 OXYGEN GENERATOR

The Central Medicine Store Depot (CMSD) will buy 40 oxygen generator machines through the direct purchase method with a view to tackling rising oxygen demand during a further spike of coronavirus cases.

The move was approved yesterday during a meeting of The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

About the decision, Finance ministry AHM Mostafa Kamal also said, "It was the duty of the health ministry to take initiative in the right time, but they didn't.

"As we had no experience, we have to take speedy steps now. Considering the Covid-19 situation, we have approved the direct purchase of 40 oxygen generator machines by the CMSD."