The parliamentary standing committee on the health ministry has asked for a report on the full government plan on the production of coronavirus vaccines in Bangladesh.
The committee, which wants the bottling of vaccines to begin within six to nine months, had an initial briefing by the ministry in a meeting on Thursday, reports bdnews24.com.
The ministry told the parliamentary committee they formed an advisory committee and a technical committee to implement the vaccine production plan.
The members of the advisory committee are the health minister, the health secretary, the director-general of the Directorate General of Health Services, the vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and the managing director of state-owned pharmaceutical company Essential Drugs.
It will advise the technical committee and review their proposals for the prime minister’s approval.
The DG of the Directorate General of Health Services is the convenor of the technical committee. The members are the DG of the Directorate General of Drug Administration, additional secretary of public health at Health Services Division, director of disease control agency IEDCR, DGHS director of planning and research and line director, the dean of Dhaka University’s pharmacy department and the managing director of Essential Drugs.
Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, chairman of the parliamentary committee, said they formed another committee to report within a month about the production or bottling of the vaccines.
He said an eight-acre piece of land at the plant of Essential Drugs in Gopalganj will be used as the vaccine unit.
“We will also produce vaccine against pneumonia, tuberculosis and other diseases there,” he said.
“We want to bottle vaccines initially. But if we get the patent clearance, we will prepare for production now.”
The government and Incepta Vaccine Limited entered into a tripartite agreement on Aug 16 to package and supply in Bangladesh the Chinese coronavirus vaccine produced by Sinopharm.
Under the contract, Incepta will bring over bulk vaccines from China, put them in vials and label them. The government will then buy the vaccines from Incepta.