Russia plans to produce its Covid-19 vaccine ‘Sputnik’ in Bangladesh in partnership with local pharmaceutical companies under a co-production contract, said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.
The country made the proposal as Bangladesh is looking for alternatives to India for the much-needed vaccine, he told BSS in a recent interview.
He said the government had reached an agreement with Russia to co-produce the COVID vaccine, but the decision had not yet been confirmed.
Russia currently lacks the manufacturing capability needed for exporting vaccine doses to Bangladesh. That is why Moscow proposed manufacturing the vaccine here, Momen said.
“This vaccine will be cheap and, hopefully, better if everything goes well,” he added.
Russia will provide the technology, using which Bangladeshi pharmaceuticals will manufacture the vaccine, according to the proposal.
In the midst of an escalating second wave of the deadly Covid-19 virus, India recently approved the use of the Russian Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine due to vaccine shortages in the country.
Fearing that India might run out of vaccine for its own people, and with opposition leaders demanding an immediate suspension of vaccine exports, Bangladesh began scouring the globe for alternative sources, including China, to obtain the much-demanded vaccine.
"Since their vaccine is not approved by the World Health Organization, Bangladesh didn’t show much interest in Chinese vaccine earlier," the foreign minister said.
Now the government is keeping all options open, he added.
China, however, already told Bangladesh they will not be able to export any vaccine before December because they were committed to supplying their vaccine to other countries first.
