Around 55 million people (one third of the Bangladesh population) will not get the Covid-19 vaccine as they do not fulfill the criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO), Health Minister Zahid Maleque has said.
The minister disclosed the information while addressing journalists after visiting the vaccine and drug wing of the Directorate General of Drug Administration’s (DGDA’s) National Control Laboratory (NCL).
He also said Bangladesh is hopeful of receiving 55 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines from the Serum Institute of India and under a programme led by het World Health Organization by June next year.
In response to a question on Covid-19 Vaccine management in the country, the minister said many people are concerned about getting a vaccine but WHO guidelines say the entire need not be vaccinated.
“Around 40% of our population is aged under or around 18, and some 3.7 million women are pregnant every year. So, considering other criteria set by WHO as well, the estimate we have is that some 55 million people would not get the vaccine,” the minister said.
According to WHO and the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC), people who are not eligible for the vaccine include those who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 or recovered from it, are aged under 16, are pregnant or lactating, or if the person has allergies, a history of anaphylaxis or is immune-compromised or takes immunosuppressive medications.
The minister said Bangladesh has already placed a purchase order for 30 million vaccine doses (enough for 15 million people) and is expected to receive the doses from late January or early February to July in six installments.
The country will get around 60 million more vaccines (enough for about 20% of total population) from WHO Covex, and expects to receive the doses in installments from June next year, he added.
“So, the gap between the Covid-19 vaccine receiving population and the number of vaccines needed is actually much smaller than what people are saying. The people who need vaccines will all get them gradually, but frontline fighters and service providers will get priority,” the health minister said.
He also said they have already provided training for vaccination and are in the process of increasing manpower for the vaccination program, as regular vaccination programs will continue alongside Covid-19 vaccination.
One problem that may prove difficult to resolve is the low number of coolers for carrying the vaccines and the ministry is trying to find a solution, the minister added,
“We have arranged extra storage for the vaccine and have fixed transportation measures, but are finding it difficult to manage coolers as the previous resources of EPI will be occupied with regular vaccines,” he said.
Covid vaccine to be included as 10th vaccine to be tested at NCL
NCL of DGDA is going to test the Covid-19 vaccine as the fifth component they are examining in their labs. It is the first vaccine included in their testing list after they received WHO approval this year.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque said: “We have established it as a global standard vaccine testing lab, which will test the efficacy of the vaccine. The lab has two units – a biological lab and chemical lab. The biological lab got WHO approval this year and the chemical unit is at the approval stage.”
According to NCL, the biological lab received approval in March this year and they applied for approval for the chemical lab two months earlier. They expect a WHO visit in July 2021.
The nine vaccines they have tested are for Tetanus Toxoid (TT), rabies, typhoid, Influenza, Meningococcal or Meningitis vaccines, Hepatitis A and B, Measles-Rubella and an oral polio vaccine.
