Vaccine co-production: Govt deal with Sinopharm, Incepta Monday

Bangladesh is set to sign a tripartite agreement with the Chinese company Sinopharm and local drug manufacturer Incepta Pharmaceuticals on Monday to facilitate co-production of the inactivated Covid-19 vaccine (Vero Cell).

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday said, "We are making a deal with China to get access to more vaccines. Bangladesh is set to sign a co-production agreement with the country."

He also said the country had made a vaccine deal with Russia.

"We will sign an initial deal on Monday. Later, a decision will be made on whether Incepta will produce the vaccine locally, or bring those in bulk to fill and finish," Incepta Pharmaceuticals's Chairman and Managing Director Abdul Muktadir told The Business Standard on Sunday.

"We have made preparations for both possibilities. A timeframe for starting the manufacturing process will be set after the deal is signed," he said.

The signing of a memorandum on cooperation will take place at 3pm in the Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS) Auditorium in Mohakhali, the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka said.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming are scheduled to attend the event.

Incepta has been manufacturing vaccines since 2011, and it is ready to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines too, company sources have said.

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. So far in Bangladesh, 71.31 lakh people have taken at least one jab of the Sinopharm vaccine, and 38.82 lakh people have taken two jabs.

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.

At the end of last year, Bangladesh had made a deal with India's Serum Institute to procure 3 crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. After receiving the first shipment, Bangladesh had launched a mass inoculation drive on 7 February.

India, however, halted the export after sending 70 lakh doses in two shipments, triggering a vaccine shortage in Bangladesh. The country stopped administering the first doses on 25 April.

The Bangladesh government then began efforts to procure vaccines from other sources. In April, the country gave authorisation for emergency use of China's Sinopharm and Russia's Sputnik-V vaccines.

Bangladesh, around the same time, opened negotiations with China and Russia for co-producing the doses, along with procuring more from those nations.