Bangladesh drug regulator approves Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik

Bangladesh has approved the import and use of Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine for the coronavirus.

Director General of Drug Administration Maj Gen Mahbubur Rahman confirmed the development on Tuesday.

The decision came after Bangladesh suspended the first dosing of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on a supply crunch.

An application was filed to the regulator on Apr 24 for the approval of using the Russian vaccine and the decision came on Tuesday.

“We have given the approval for the emergency use of this [Sputnik] vaccine. It has paved the way for importing and using the vaccine in Bangladesh,” Rahman said.

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday it was still in discussions about the Russian-made Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine and had not yet set a date to evaluate the shot's clinical data for possible emergency use listing, Reuters reports.

"On Sputnik, we are still waiting, we are still in the back-and-forth stage. So we don't have a review meeting scheduled yet," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a briefing in Geneva.

Brazilian health regulator Anvisa on Monday rejected importing the Sputnik V requested by state governors battling a deadly second wave. Technical staff highlighted "inherent risks" and serious defects, citing a lack of information guaranteeing its safety, quality and effectiveness.

India to receive first batch of Russia's vaccine in May

India will receive a first batch of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 on May 1, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, told Reuters on Monday.

He did not say how many vaccines would be in the first batch or where they would be made.

India, in the grip of a second wave of the pandemic, is struggling to tackle surging coronavirus infections that are overwhelming hospitals, and countries like Britain, Germany and the United States have pledged to send urgent medical aid.

“The first doses will be delivered on May 1,” Dmitriev said, adding he hoped Russian supplies would help India navigate its way out of the pandemic in time.

Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund, which is marketing Sputnik V globally, has already signed agreements with five leading Indian manufacturers for over 850 million doses of the vaccine a year.

The RDIF has said it expects production of the vaccine in India to reach 50 million doses a month by the summer and to rise further.

The World Health Organization chief described the situation in the world's second-most populous country as "beyond heartbreaking" as the WHO was planning to provide extra staff and supplies including oxygen concentrator devices.

Russian pharmaceutical firm Pharmasyntez said earlier on Monday that it was ready to ship up to 1 million packs of the remdesivir antiviral drug to India by end-May, once it has received the approval of Russia's government.