BD to get 68m C-19 vaccine doses from Gavi by 2021

Bangladesh is expected to receive around 68 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine from the Gavi– the Vaccine Alliance — under the global arrangement called Covax facility within 2021.
The information was given during a programme organised with journalists at the health directorate on Wednesday.
The cost for each shot of vaccine from Gavi arrangement has been estimated at US $1.62 to $2.
Bangladesh on 9 July sent an official Expression of Interest (EOI) to Gavi. Later, on 18 September, Gavi sent a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina officially announcing Bangladesh’s eligibility to receive Covid-19 vaccine.
Out of the total 68 million doses, per person will get two doses.
Dr Shamsul Haque Mridha, director of expanded programme for immunization (EPI), said, Bangladesh is now working to develop National Vaccine Deployment Plan for Covid-19 vaccines in the country.
He added that although the trial of the Chinese vaccine company Sinovac has been postponed but we are still in touch with other providers.
Meanwhile, two Bangladeshi institutes have stated their desire to host the 3rd Phase Clinical trial of Sanofi and GSK’s protein based vaccine, he added.
Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora, additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said if more vaccines were needed after receiving the prescribed 20 percent vaccine from Gavi, then the vaccine would be purchased at a price of more than 2 dollar. We plan to purchase 40 percent of the vaccine from Gavi.
“A vaccine company from India, Sanofi and another one company are contacting the country for a trial. Sanofi’s trial work has progressed a lot. We are working on how to get the vaccine out of the trial,” she added.
Director general of the health directorate, top officials of the DGHS attended the event chaired by Prof ABM Khurshid Alam.
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Gavi is the Vaccine Alliance, which brings together public and private sectors with the shared goal of creating equal access to vaccines.
Gavi was created in 2000 to improve access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries. GAVI has observer status at the World Health Assembly.
The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has been found to protect 94% of adults over 65 years old.
However, British drugs group AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said their jointly-developed Covid-19 vaccine can prevent up to 90% of people contracting coronavirus when it is administered as a half dose followed by a full dose at least one month apart. – Agencies