Deal to produce Sinopharm vaccine imminent: minister

The government will sign a memorandum of understanding, MoU, on the co-production of the Chinese Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine in Bangladesh 'very soon', according to Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 2 August 2021, 07:36 PM
Updated : 2 August 2021, 07:36 PM

Revealing the development after a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador Li Jiming at the state guest house Padma on Monday, he said: "We have received the MoU."

"It's with the Ministry of Health. Three parties will sign the MoU -- Incepta Pharmaceuticals, the Government of Bangladesh and Sinopharm.”

It could take a couple of months for the vaccine to go into production after the agreement is signed, according to Momen.

"I think the health ministry will get the job done very soon.”

The next step in the production process will be complete once the raw materials are imported from China, Momen said.

“Incepta will bring the materials in bulk and then do the bottling, labelling and finishing locally.”

Bangladesh started its mass vaccination campaign in February, using the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and Anglo-Swedish company AstraZeneca, bought under an agreement with the Serum Institute of India.

But the agreement for the doses fell through after the pandemic situation in India worsened dramatically and put a halt to vaccine exports.

The inoculation drive resumed after the government received consignments of Sinopharm vaccine from China, and Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines under COVAX.

The government has an agreement with the Chinese company to buy 30 million doses of the vaccine, with seven million jabs reaching the country in July. The South Asian country also received an additional 1.1 million shots as a gift from China.

Bangladesh was also in talks with Russia to jointly produce its Sputnik-V vaccine but the discussions have stalled as a third wave of coronavirus infections continues to ravage the European nation, Momen said.