Bangladesh would get the Chinese gift of 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine from Sinopharm on May 12 as announced before, but the commercial supply would take time due to the long queue, Ambassador Li Jiming said on Monday.
“On the upcoming occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, I would like to say ‘Eid Mubarak’ to you all and take this opportunity to announce the good news that a special gift of 500 thousand doses of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine will arrive in Bangladesh on May 12th,” the ambassador said at a virtual briefing organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB).
“So, obviously, there is a long queue for the supply in the international market. Right now, Bangladesh is not very close to the first line,” he said, adding that it’s because the Bangladesh government gave emergency-use approval to China's state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm ‘only a week ago’.
The World Health Organisation gave the approval for emergency use of the vaccine on May 7. The Bangladesh government approved the vaccine for use on April 29.
The vaccine issue came to the fore in Bangladesh as the government could not bring the expected doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India due to short supply. This is despite the fact that the Serum Institute gave the vaccine to Bangladesh soon after its roll out in India in January when over 140 countries did not have a single dose of Covid-19 jab.
Bangladesh has vaccinated over 8 million people and is exploring options to get jabs from different sources.
“As per the first feedback I got from my colleagues in Beijing, the line is too long and you better not expect (commercial supply) before December. I said no, I need (it) as quickly as possible. Then I think I can make (it) much earlier than December but unfortunately not within the first half of this year,” the Chinese ambassador said, adding that the talks are underway to have government-to-government cooperation and China is quite positive to provide supply to the market of Bangladesh.
He, however, expressed his frustration over the bureaucratic process in Bangladesh.
He said he informed the Bangladesh government about the Chinese gift as early as February 3 this year and it took three months for the government to approve it.
“I got the approval from the Bangladesh government on the 30th of April, the last day of April. The beginning of May is the May Day holiday in China. So, you can imagine how wholeheartedly the embassy and my colleagues in China were working to secure these 500,000 vaccines to be available in two days from today,” he said.
“I hope that the Bangladesh government will be more effective, especially when we are talking about some real challenges like pandemic. Right now, I can say that I will do my best for the commercial purchase,” he said.
“The virus is our common enemy, and cooperation is the only way out. China and Bangladesh have been champions of multilateralism, humanitarianism and international collaboration at the regional and multilateral levels, an example of which would be the six-country Foreign Ministers’ Video Meeting on COVID-19 Response among China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka held on April 27th this year,” he said.
DCAB President Pantha Rahaman and General Secretary AKM Moinuddin moderated the briefing.
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A media statement of the Chinese embassy in Dhaka called the vaccine gift ‘a concrete step’ in honouring President Xi Jinping’s pledge of making COVID-19 vaccines a global public good, a solid action taken by both sides towards building a community with a shared future for mankind, and a powerful measure to implement the consensus reached in a video conference of foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on COVID-19,
The statement said the vaccine gift -- Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine -- is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China National Biotec Group.
Just 3 days ago, WHO listed the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for the vaccine to be rolled out globally.
The statement said the Sinopharm product is an inactivated vaccine called SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (Vero Cell). Its efficacy for symptomatic and hospitalised disease was estimated to be over 79 percent, all age groups combined.
The vaccine’s easy storage requirements make it highly suitable for low-resource settings. It is also the first vaccine that will carry a vaccine vial monitor, a small sticker on the vaccine vials that change colour as the vaccine is exposed to heat, letting health workers know whether the vaccine can be safely used, the statement added.
The embassy said China and Bangladesh are close strategic partners of cooperation. “Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the two sides have been supporting and assisting each other. Last year, at China’s most trying moments, Bangladesh was among the first countries to donate medical supplies to China in a great act of valuable support. When the epidemic situation in China eased, China supported Bangladesh’s fight against the virus through various means including gifting medical supplies and sending medical experts.”
China offered to gift vaccines to Bangladesh in February, but the Embassy did not get the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) from the government of Bangladesh until 30th April.
The statement said that though facing difficulties of huge domestic demand and a tight supply of international market, China decided to give priority to ensuring that the vaccines arrive in Bangladesh as soon as possible.
“Although it was the May Day holiday in China, many Chinese workers worked overtime and sacrificed personal rest time to rush out these vaccines in less than two weeks. It is believed that the safe and reliable Chinese vaccine will play a positive role in the construction of Bangladesh’s anti-epidemic defence line, help the people of Bangladesh to overcome the epidemic, and continue the friendship story between the two countries.”
The statement said, “The virus respects no boundaries and we are all in this together. Solidarity and cooperation is our most powerful weapon in this war. China hopes all parties will take real action, provide more vaccines to developing countries including Bangladesh, and contribute to the equitable distribution and application of vaccines across the world so that we can defeat the virus at an early date.”
