Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine: Govt may go for it despite challenges
The government decided to take the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from COVAX despite challenges of maintaining the cold chain and ensuring the supply of the particular syringes required.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) will soon inform COVAX about the decision along with a detailed deployment plan.
Distribution of this vaccine can be complicated because it needs to be stored at very low temperatures of about minus 70 degrees Celsius, far below the normal refrigerator levels.
Many have pointed out that Bangladesh lacks the system required to store the doses.
But DGHS Director General ABM Khurshid Alam said, "We have interest in taking the vaccine and there is no reason to shun this opportunity. We are working to submit a complete plan… on its supply, distribution and storage."
Officials are trying to overcome the challenges, he told The Daily Star yesterday.
An official of the government's Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) said officials were evaluating the existing cold chain equipment.
The COVAX programme, led by the World Health Organisation and global alliance GAVI, has offered Bangladesh around four lakh doses of the vaccine developed by US drugmaker Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech.
COVAX has promised to deliver a total of 2 billion doses of vaccines to at least 172 countries by the end of this year.
Industry insiders said some organisations in Bangladesh have the equipment to store the doses. But not all of them can be made available for this vaccine.
Others pointed out that the 0.3 ml syringe needed to administer the vaccine might not be available in the country.
"We are looking for potential sources of the syringe because it has to be certified by the World Health Organisation," a top officer said, wishing not to be named.
Director General Khurshid also admitted that injecting from a 0.3 ml syringe required considerable skills.
COVAX sent a letter to Bangladesh on January 6 asking whether the country would join the COVAX programme. It sent similar letters to 192 countries. Countries that showed interest will get the doses by the end of January or February.
The COVAX in its letter said that the free doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine must be given to the frontline health workers and Bangladesh has agreed to the condition.
The deadline for replying to the COVAX is on January 18. COVAX will review the responses and will inform its decision on January 19.
Officials here said if everything goes right, the vaccine is likely to arrive by March. But it will mostly be used in Dhaka city because the storage is not available outside the capital.
The World Health Organisation has listed the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use only.
It said the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine met its safety requirements and its benefits outweighed any potential risks.
The vaccine has already been administered in several countries, including the United States, Canada, Qatar, Bahrain and Mexico.
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