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On September 22, the Chinese Sinovac wrote a letter to the Minister of Health, Zahid Malek, informing him of her financial crisis. There, the company reported on its ‘economic crisis’ and asked the government of Bangladesh to ‘co-finance’ the corona vaccine trial. The reason, they said in the letter, was that they were late in obtaining approval from Bangladesh. Meanwhile, health experts say that due to the unnecessary delay in approval, we have missed the opportunity to conduct a trial without spending money. However, the Ministry of Health says that even if it takes some time, the Sinovac trial will take place in Bangladesh. They look forward to a decision on these issues at the next cabinet meeting.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Zahid Malek told the Bengali Tribune about the delay, saying it was too late to give approval after “checking and sorting.” And Health Secretary Abdul Mannan said they had briefed the prime minister on Sinovac’s condition, whether Bangladesh would fund it or not, all of which would be decided at next week’s cabinet meeting. A Synovac delegation will also arrive next month. Maybe after your survey you will decide on this.
On July 19, the Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) approved CoronaVac vaccine, a vaccine from China’s Synovac company, for clinical trials. Said the director of BMRC. Mahmud Uz Jahan told the Bengali Tribune that day, ‘ICDDR, B wants to test a vaccine in Bangladesh. As a general rule, BMRC approves the policy for any trial. They asked us for permission for this trial, we checked and solved it, reviewed it and approved it ”.
Health Secretary Abdul Mannan said on September 21 that Sinovac had been allowed a trial. The National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 has also discussed a vaccine trial in the country more than once.
In a letter addressed to Health Minister Zahid Malek on September 22, Sinovac said: “The funds we had have been distributed to other countries for testing at this time. So we do not have the funds necessary to conduct a trial. in Bangladesh We plan to raise part of this fund in late October or early November, however we need a joint venture to fund the trial in Bangladesh.
Regarding the start of the trial, Sinovac said: “Our plan was to start the trial in early August, but due to delays in obtaining approval, we paid for the trial in another country. At the same time, we were not sure whether we would get the final approval. We have requested funding from the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness-SEP in consultation with the External Agency and the goodwill of the trial in Bangladesh. Despite our hopes of funding from external agencies, Sepi told us two weeks ago they couldn’t help.
When asked why Bangladesh was slow to approve Synovac, the Health Minister said: “You can talk to them. We have formalities, we have to understand. And whenever it happens, they are approved.”
However, experts are reluctant to accept this “verification selection” from the health minister. They say that the first trial of any vaccine is to see its effectiveness in animals, the second trial is about efficiency and safety and the last one is about safety. There are no deaths without some problems. But we took so long and in the last stage we were “rejected”.
Experts say the BMRC is the sole authority to approve the vaccine trial. Her committee of experts has approved, but the ministry has given its decision after so long. Now the ministry has to explain why they are late.
Member of the National Advisory Committee on Kovid-19 and former Vice Chancellor of Sheikh Mujib Medical University of Bangabandhu, Prof. Dr. Nazrul Islam said: ‘The matter is not complicated. If the condition is good in the trial, we will take that vaccine. If it’s not good, I won’t accept it.
So we also recommend a Synovac test from the advisory committee. At the same time, if it is good, then any company in our country can apply for a license to produce. Because if it is produced domestically, we will also get the benefit of a lower price, ”said Professor Nazrul Islam.
Since the start of the Corona epidemic, there has been a ‘delay’ in all cases in this regard, Prof. Dr. Bay-Nazir Ahmed said: ‘These are unnecessary delays. When international research institutes like ICDDR, BIR are involved in the investigation, in light of experience, when they decided to go to trial with Sinovac, there was not much to analyze administratively.
He said: “BMRC is the most important institution in the country where people participate in research. There is no need for the ministry or management to say anything when the BMRC has given its approval.
Explaining the rules of the vaccine trial, Professor Bay-Nazir Ahmed said: “First, to ensure the safety of the people who will participate in the vaccine trial, that is, if they are being harmed; Second, whether Bangladesh will benefit from it: the BMRC approves the policy after seeing them. After that, the ministry and the leadership had nothing to do with it. Also, there is no expert in the ministry or the leadership who has the power to comment on this.
Furthermore, the country would have benefited from all the research related to this. We also have the opportunity to use the knowledge from this research. He also had the opportunity at the Sinovac trial. On the one hand, as our capacity increased, on the other hand, we would know if this vaccine works accurately. And when it comes to deciding which vaccine to take in the future, we would have had the opportunity to take this test there as well. We missed that opportunity and it is useless. There was no need to miss this opportunity. Because even if there is a trial, whether Bangladesh will take this vaccine or not is totally up to us, they couldn’t say anything. It is very sad to lose this opportunity, ”said Professor Bay-Nazir Ahmed.
In this regard, the Secretary General of the Bangladesh Medical Association. Ihteshamul Haque said: “Where BMRC has given approval, they should explain why the ministry has given approval after so long.”
He said: “Last July, the third phase of the trial took place in Brazil, then in Indonesia and more recently in Turkey. All of them have had good results. We took the time … but the result … became in the cause of a little problem or anxiety If we had given permission earlier, we would have received the Chinese vaccine earlier.
“Not everyone will get the same benefits that SinoVAC gave us,” he said. “SinoVAC would administer 120,000 vaccines for free. At the same time, those of us who were vaccinated during the trial – we were depressed in these places. Due to late approval, Sinovac has funded elsewhere … What we have done wrong, if we have been able to delay both in this period of crisis, this must be taken into account.
‘The whole world wants a vaccine now. No one will wait for anyone’s approval. It was necessary to understand that we were harmed by this delay, ”said Ihteshamul Haque Chowdhury.
“There is politics around the world with vaccines,” said Prof. Dr., a member of the committee of public health experts formed by the Department of Health. Abu Jamil Faisal said: ‘This policy must be understood by the minister-secretary of health. They take time to approve the projection, but the policy does not go through the projection. Don’t be late to make a decision here. As a result, we lost the race for the vaccine. We came back, ”said Professor Abu Jamil Faisal.
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