Made in Bangladesh Covid-19 vaccine project to cost Tk2,574cr

The cost of Covid-19 vaccine production by the state-owned Essential Drugs Company Limited has been estimated at Tk 2,574 crore.

Aiming to reduce dependency on foreign and private companies, Essential Drugs is set to produce Covid-19 jabs in the country.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque on Tuesday told The Business Post, “We have already started the process of the vaccine production project, which will be produced by Essential Drugs avoiding any private companies.”

Sources of the Health Service Division said that the government has started a dialogue with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to secure a loan of Tk 2,474 crore while another Tk 100 crore will come from the government for the vaccine production project.

A massive portion of the project cost will be used for importing modern machinery, raw materials and software, and the rest will be spent on trainings, building renovation, and salaries.

A vaccine production plant will be installed on the land of the Institute of Public Health (IPH) where the cholera vaccine and six other types of vaccines were produced in the past.

A doorway for research in bio-science and bio-technology will be open after the vaccine production in the country, which will potentially reduce dependency on foreign countries, according to experts in the health service sector. Currently, different local drug companies are exporting pharma products to 151 countries across the globe.

Earlier, vaccines prepared in the IPH especially contributed to eradicating smallpox from the country. The IPH produced vaccines for rabies 11 years back, and no vaccine production was initiated there since then.

Currently, the IPH is participating in inoculation campaigns while the vaccines are imported from foreign countries.

In October last year, the parliamentary standing committee on the health ministry strongly recommended that Essential Drugs take measures to produce Covid-19 vaccines within a year so that all citizens could be brought under vaccination scheme as soon as possible.

Earlier in August, the parliamentary committee asked Essential Drugs to take measures to produce the Covid-19 vaccine through a process known as “fill and finish” within the next six to nine months.

For long-term planning, the parliamentary body also recommended producing the Covid-19 vaccine through transferring technology from the vaccine-producing companies and carrying out clinical trials in human bodies, if necessary.

The health ministry was also asked to avoid bureaucratic tangles while carrying out the job of producing the Covid-19 vaccine. Before that, the health ministry presented a report on the progress of the vaccine production process.

In the report, the ministry informed the parliamentary committee that efforts were being made to set up vaccine production units in consultation with experts. The advice of various engineering and technology institutes was also taken in this regard.

Covid situation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh recorded 8,407 cases, with the positivity rate reaching 23.98 per cent, in 24 hours till 8am on Tuesday. During this period, 10 more deaths were recorded as the death toll reached 28,164.

The country last logged 7,248 cases and 172 deaths on August 18, 2021, with the positivity rate reaching 17.67% in 24 hours.

Bangladesh is currently seeing a surge in Covid-19 cases as the health authorities registered 38,478 infections in the last 16 days since January 1.