Bangladesh Wants to Quickly Import Russian COVID Vaccine: FM

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said that Bangladesh is interested to import five million doses of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine quickly from Russia.

The Health Ministry is working on the issue, he said during a meeting with outgoing Russian Ambassador Alexander I Ignatov at the Foreign Ministry in the capital, reports media.

Upon approval, several pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh can start producing the vaccine jointly with Russia, Momen said.

The minister sought the ambassador’s assistance to import the vaccine fast, the foreign ministry said in a press release.

The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) approved the emergency use of Sputnik V on April 27. The use of Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac, Sinopharm, and Covishield had also been approved.

However, Sputnik V is yet to get approval from the World Health Organisation.

Brazil has become the 67th country to authorise Sputnik V for use. Sputnik V ranks second among coronavirus vaccines globally in terms of the number of approvals issued by government regulators.

Russia expects the WHO will approve the vaccine within two months, Reuters reported on Friday, citing Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund which markets the vaccine.

Dmitriev said the European Medicines Agency, which is also reviewing Sputnik V, "was provided with all basic existing information, there is no critical remark for now at all".

He said that WHO did not have significant critical remarks either, based on a couple of inspections.

Bangladesh started its nationwide inoculation on February 7 with Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII).

The SII was supposed to provide 30 million doses as per the agreement — five million a month, but it stopped exporting vaccine after India witnessed an upsurge in Covid-19 cases and fatalities.

Bangladesh received seven million doses of Covishield through its contract. Besides, the neighbouring country gave Bangladesh 3.3 million doses as a gift.

Due to the export halt, the government suspended administering the first dose of Covishield since April 26, while a good number of people are waiting for their second shots.

On May 12, the Chinese government handed over half a million doses of its Sinopharm vaccine to Bangladesh as a gift. China is supposed to send another 600,000 doses by June 13, also as a gift.

Bangladesh received over 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on May 31 under the Covax facility, run by the WHO and Gavi, the vaccine alliance.

Meanwhile, the US unveiled its strategy for global vaccine sharing through Covax, keeping Bangladesh on the list.