Home ›› 20 Nov 2021 ›› Editorial
The first coronavirus cases were reported in China’s Wuhan in late December 2019, before it spread to other countries like wildfire, disrupting normal life and bringing the world to its knees. Scientists raced against time and developed vaccines, helping humanity avert a disaster of epic proportions.
Global cases surpassed 250 million by Nov 8 and by that time, more than five million lives had been lost. It took nearly a year for coronavirus cases to reach 50 million. In early November, Merck & Co Inc’s Covid-19 pill molnupiravir received its first regulatory approval globally. Around the same time, Pfizer said that its pill was highly effective at preventing severe illness among at-risk people who received the drug after exhibiting coronavirus symptoms.
Pfizer’s Paxlovid appears to be more effective than Merck’s one, cutting the risk of hospitalisation or death by 89 per cent if administered within three days after the symptoms first appear.
Last week, Bahrain announced the emergency use approval for AstraZeneca’s anti-Covid drug Evusheld, becoming the first country to authorise the drug.
Our pharmaceutical companies have already begun marketing the generic versions of molnupiravir upon approval from regulators. Beximco Pharma is supplying the drug with the brand name Emorivir at Tk 70 per capsule. Eskayef has priced its pills, Monuvir, at Tk 50 each.
Already, the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), the principal drug regulatory agency in Bangladesh, has permitted Beximco, Square, Eskayef and Renata pharmaceutical companies to produce and market molnupiravir.
Last week, Pfizer announced that its Covid pill would be made and sold at a cheaper rate in 95 poorer countries, including Bangladesh, home to over half of the world’s population.
The move followed a similar arrangement by Merck last month. Together, Merck and Pfizer’s initiatives could potentially protect a vast portion of the world’s population and alter the pandemic’s course by drastically reducing severe illness from the virus.
Charles Gore, executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool, a non-profit backed by the United Nations, said it would be really important for low- and middle-income countries because it’s easy to take, just a short course of five days, and relatively cheaper to produce.
But their impact will largely depend on access to affordable, reliable and easy-to-use Covid testing. To be most effective, the antiviral course must be given within a few days after symptoms start but this could be challenging in a country like ours.
Bangladesh eyes Pfizer pill
Health Minister Zahid Maleque recently said that the government would take initiatives to bring in Pfizer pills once it gets approval from the USA and WHO. The Pfizer pill currently awaits regulatory approval in the US.
A patient will need to take eight 200mg capsules daily for five days following a doctor’s prescription to treat mild to moderate infections. Maj Gen Md Mahbubur Rahman, director-general of the Directorate General of Drug Administration, said they were optimistic that the drug would help eliminate coronavirus from the country.
The health minister said that the government would go for Pfizer pills once the US and WHO approved it. He said they would extend all sorts of assistance to local pharmaceutical companies for producing the pills. Maleque made it clear that the time to decide on this matter had not come.
This could be a gamechanger for Bangladesh which is struggling to inoculate its 80 per cent population.
The country reports 220 new infections on average each day, 2 per cent of the peak — the highest daily average reported on August 3. There have been 1,573,214 infections and 27,934 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
Bangladesh has administered at least 86,266,596 doses of Covid vaccines. Assuming every person needs two doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 26.5 per cent of the country’s population, according to Reuters data. At the current inoculation rate, the country will take a further 28 days to inoculate another 10 per cent of its population.
The antiviral pills will offer substantial business opportunities in Bangladesh, where vaccine-hesitant people are citing reports of oral antiviral drugs lessening the worst impacts of coronavirus.
On the other hand, some experts fear that the arrival of oral treatments may affect the vaccination campaigns.
In Bangladesh, where a large portion of the population lives in rural areas with less intensive targeted vaccine campaigns, misleading information about the oral pills could hinder the inoculation drive.
Prescriptions will be required to buy the pills, which means a person must get tested first. Unscrupulous clinics, private hospitals and pharmacies could take advantage of this situation and exploit the people.
The government must ensure that people do not confuse the benefit of treatment with pills with prevention afforded by vaccines.
A robust campaign is a must to raise awareness among the people. The health authorities have to reach out to the people in order to encourage them to take vaccines and, at the same time, counter misleading information about the oral antiviral pills to tackle the coronavirus outbreak successfully.
Don’t let your guard down
Bangladesh’s coronavirus situation has significantly improved over the recent weeks, with the daily infection rate falling below 1.5 per cent in November, down from over 32 per cent in July.
A nationwide vaccination drive is bringing more people under vaccine coverage and Covid antiviral pills are now available in the market but there’s still no room for complacency as health experts fear that there could be another surge in virus cases in the winter.
People have always been reluctant to follow health guidelines and the improving coronavirus situation has exacerbated the unwillingness. Now, people properly wearing masks are becoming a rarity.
In late October, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged the people to maintain health rules, including wearing masks, fearing that coronavirus cases may rise again. She said that countries around the world had been experiencing coronavirus during the winter, and asked the authorities concerned to organise a massive countrywide campaign to raise awareness about a resurgence in Covid-19 infections during winter.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina described October and November as the “danger period” for Covid-19 spread and urged all to remain cautious even after taking the Covid-19 jabs.
Health experts agree with her. Even if you’re fully vaccinated, it doesn’t mean you won’t contract the virus anymore, they said.
You can still get infected even after getting full vaccine doses. Vaccines don’t guarantee 100 per cent immunity from the virus. You still need to maintain health rules such as, wearing face masks, disinfecting hands with sanitiser or running water and soap, avoiding crowds– the last one is almost impossible in Bangladesh.
WHO’s Dr Kate O’Brien says not everybody who receives the vaccine is 100 per cent protected. Vaccines work in two ways, first, they prevent people from getting the disease and even when disease does occur in persons who are vaccinated, the severity of the disease is less.
Fortunately, only a small percentage of fully vaccinated people get infected when exposed to coronavirus -- something dubbed vaccine breakthrough infections. According to Mayo Clinic, such patients can potentially pass on the virus to others, but apparently, vaccinated people spread Covid-19 for a shorter period than unvaccinated people.
For now, people should follow health guidelines outlined by the government and take vaccines to keep themselves protected against the virus.
Health experts agree that the pills are no substitute for vaccines and urge people to get jabbed.
Vaccine expert Dr Peter Hotez, a professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, said that relying exclusively on an antiviral drug “will be a high-stakes game to play”.
Pfizer Inc’s Chief Executive Officer Albert Borula was blunter in an interview with Reuters, saying that choosing not to get vaccinated “would be a tragic mistake”.
“These are treatments. This is for the unfortunate who will get sick,” he said. “This should not be a reason not to protect yourself and to put yourself, your household and society in danger.”
The writer is a journalist at The Business Post. He can be reached at zoglulkamal@gmail.com
