Deal signed to co-produce Chinese vaccine locally in 3 months

The government Monday signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chinese company Sinopharm and Bangladeshi drug manufacturer Incepta Pharmaceuticals for bottling, labelling and dispensing the Chinese Covid vaccine locally.

The MoU was signed by Health Minister Zahid Maleque, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming and Incepta Chairman Abdul Muktadir.

Under the deal, local vaccine producer, Incepta Vaccines Ltd, will dispense 50 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine each month from its plant in Dhaka.

"Sinopharm will provide Incepta with the raw materials to produce the shots locally. The government will buy it," said Health Minister Zahid Maleque. He, however, did not mention the rates.

"Incepta told us it will be able to start the supply within three months. The company can produce up to 4 crore doses per month," noted the minister.           

He said the vaccine co-producing deal will play a crucial role to immunise 80% of the population, which means 26 crore shots to inoculate around 13 crore citizens.

"We will even be able to export the jabs after meeting the local demand," he added.

Zahid Maleque said Bangladesh will continue sourcing vaccines from other countries until the co-manufacturing goes into full production.      

At the deal signing programme, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said, "The government put its relentless efforts for the co-production that now comes true."  

Sinopharm Chairman Liu Jingzhen joined the event virtually from Beijing. He said Sinopharm jab was the first Chinese vaccine that got approval from the World Health Organization (WHO).   

"We have sent the vaccine to 87 countries as more than 60 heads of the nations have taken the jab. This vaccine is effective to prevent different variants of coronavirus," he noted.   

Incepta Chairman Abdul Muktadir told the programme they were optimistic about beginning the commercial production "very soon".

Bangladesh has so far procured 1.5 crore doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, and those are arriving in the country in phases every month. Bangladesh has received 1.29 crore doses till date.

Of the amount, 91 lakh were procured, 21 lakh were gifted by China, and the rest was sent under the Covax initiative. A large part of Bangladesh's ongoing inoculation drive utilises Sinopharm vaccines.

This vaccine is relatively easier to store compared to its counterparts, and authorities concerned are distributing the doses from the capital to the union level.

The government will procure an additional 6 crore doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines from China under the Direct Procurement Method (DPM) – as per the price mentioned in the agreement – to bolster the government's efforts to vaccinate the citizens.