Vaccine supply from Serum still uncertain

With no supply of vaccines from the Serum Institute of India in March, the Indian vaccine manufacturer still kept Bangladesh authorities in the dark about the supply of doses in April.

Officials said that they received no update from Serum about the next shipment of vaccines although they communicated and expressed their concern over the uncertainty and shortage of vaccines.

The government officials said that they also failed to get any information from the local vendor of the Serum vaccine, Beximco Pharma.

Bangladesh last received 20 lakh doses of vaccine in February and so far 70 lakh in total although the country is supposed to get 1.5 crore doses by March with 50 lakh every month under a purchase deal with Serum.

Bangladesh also paid $12 crore to the Serum in advance to get the vaccines, according to officials.

Officials said that they were now looking into alternative sources of vaccine to meet the demand of the ongoing vaccination drive.

Beximco Pharma’s chief operating officer Rabbur Reza told New Age on Friday that they received no update about the next shipment of vaccines from Serum.

Directorate General of Health Services director for Expanded Programme of Immunisation Shamsul Islam said the DGHS communicated with the Serum through Beximco about the vaccines, but they received no update from them.

The country has already a shortage of vaccine doses to continue its vaccination programme and even to run the second dose administration that had begun on April 8.

The Indian vaccine manufacturer failed to supply the committed 50 lakh doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca-developed vaccine in March.

The government has a purchase deal with Serum and its local vendor Beximco Pharma to get 3 crore doses — 50 lakh a month — of the vaccine by June.

The Indian firm has supplied so far 70 lakh doses — 50 lakh in January and 20 lakh in February — in two shipments with no doses arriving in March.

Rabbur Reza said he could not tell about when the next shipment of the vaccine will arrive and how many doses will be there in the shipment.

Bangladesh began the mass vaccination on February 7.

The country has so far secured 1.02 crore doses of the vaccine, including 32 lakh from the Indian government as a gift.

Until Thursday, 66.17 lakh people have received the shots — 56.86 lakh first dose and 9.30 lakh second dose.

So far, 70.88 lakh people registered to get the jab.

The second dose administration began on April 8 after an eight-week gap from the first dose inoculation.

India has reportedly put a temporary hold on all major exports of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured at Serum in a bid to meet the country’s local demand.

The reported Indian decision has come at a time when COVID-19 infections in Bangladesh are rising fast.

Bangladesh health officials said that they were not aware of any decision of India to ban the export of the vaccine.

Directorate General of Health Services additional director general Meerjady Sabrina Flora, who heads the vaccination programme, told reporters on Wednesday that the government was exploring alternative sources of COVID-19 vaccines as it was presently importing vaccines from India’s Serum.

News Courtesy:

https://www.newagebd.net/article/135563/vaccine-supply-from-serum-still-uncertain