Doraiswami keen to push Covaxin as Covishield exports disrupted

[UKBengali]

I do not think you fully understand how precarious the situation is in BD and how much more vulnarable we are to withstand further shocks.

You seem to think that BD is just going to stop vaccinating its population when AstraZeneca vaccine runs out?

No, as 4 million doses of Sputnik are coming this month and local production will also start in the 2nd half of this year.

This and local production of Sputnik will NEVER have happened without Indian embargo as we all know that some people in AL government are in India's pockets.

The only problem with India embargo would be if they did not resume supplies end May/early June as then the 2nd shot of AstraZeneca is due after 12 weeks. It would have been a problem if BD was using say Pfizer which needs the 2nd dose given within 3-4 weeks. I will get angry if SII does not resume supplies of AstraZeneca this time next month but now it is irrelevant.

Please try to see the bigger picture here.

 

[mb444]

You seem to think that BD is just going to stop vaccinating its population when AstraZeneca vaccine runs out?

No, as 4 million doses of Sputnik are coming this month and local production will also start in the 2nd half of this year.

This and local production of Sputnik will NEVER have happened without Indian embargo as we all know that some people in AL government are in India's pockets.

The only problem with India embargo would be if they did not resume supplies end May/early June as then the 2nd shot of AstraZeneca is due after 12 weeks. It would have been a problem if BD was using say Pfizer which needs the 2nd dose given within 3-4 weeks. I will get angry if SII does not resume supplies of AstraZeneca this time next month but now it is irrelevant.

Please try to see the bigger picture here.

No dude.... a deal is a deal...you do not accept any non-performance without longterm sustained negative implications. BD needs to trigger remedial measures and sue SII immediately.

The big picture is simple this.... a poor nation of 165m ruled by a unelected uncaring incompetent dictatorship sleepwalking into disaster.

 

[UKBengali]

No dude.... a deal is a deal...you do not accept any non-performance without longterm sustained negative implications. BD needs to trigger remedial measures and sue SII immediately.

The big picture is simple this.... a poor nation of 165m ruled by a unelected uncaring incompetent dictatorship sleepwalking into disaster.

OK, let us hope that BD keeps the virus at bay like it is doing now. Virus is current retreating in BD quite fast and yes it is not a true picture of absolute numbers but at least gives the trend of the situation.

BD has seen what can happen in India with a "free-for-all, and so hopefully with the most vulnerable vaccinated by September it can allow all educational and work activities again with some covid measures in place. The mass gatherings like with religion and sports will have to wait till there is sufficient immunity in the population.

Sputnik is an excellent vaccine with higher efficacy than AstraZeneca and even the EU went begging to Putin for it. Germany has placed an order for 30 million and just needs EMA clearance to start vaccinating with it.
BD will start jabbing with this great vaccine this month and first supplies should last 4 weeks at current rates of vaccination.

 

[mb444]

OK, let us hope that BD keeps the virus at bay like it is doing now. Virus is current retreating in BD quite fast and yes it is not a true picture of absolute numbers but at least gives the trend of the situation.

BD has seen what can happen in India with a "free-for-all, and so hopefully with the most vulnerable vaccinated by September it can allow all educational and work activities again with some covid measures in place. The mass gatherings like with religion and sports will have to wait till there is sufficient immunity in the population.

Sputnik is an excellent vaccine with higher efficacy than AstraZeneca and even the EU went begging to Putin for it. Germany has placed an order for 30 million and just needs EMA clearance to start vaccinating with it.
BD will start jabbing with this great vaccine this month and first supplies should last 4 weeks at current rates of vaccination.

You can not mix vaccines.... so sputnik is not the answer for those who have received AZ already. If they were the most vulnarable then indian failure has just made BD population more vulnerable. BAL strategy of buying from indians was flawed as everyone advised but they still went for it with callous disregard for the national interest.

Whatever vaccines can be produced in country expect minimum 6 months delay caused by BAL and dorbesh to maximise what they can steal from the nation.

BD is one step away from disaster, it is inevitable and only a matter of time. This is not a hyperbole but actual ground reality. BD media has been muzzled and is not reflective of ground reality. BD deathtoll from conservative estimate is 10 times official figures at over 100k..... contraction rate completely unclear as very few are tested.... there is no credible vaccines pipeline nor has any remedial health care infastructure been put in place. BD is on a precipice.... there is no silver lining and i believe if anything i am under exaggerating based on reports from friends and families there.

 

[UKBengali]

You can not mix vaccines.... so sputnik is not the answer for those who have received AZ already. If they were the most vulnarable then indian failure has just made BD population more vulnerable. BAL strategy of buying from indians was flawed as everyone advised but they still went for it with callous disregard for the national interest.

Whatever vaccines can be produced in country expect minimum 6 months delay caused by BAL and dorbesh to maximise what they can steal from the nation.

BD is one step away from disaster, it is inevitable and only a matter of time. This is not a hyperbole but actual ground reality. BD media has been muzzled and is not reflective of ground reality. BD deathtoll from conservative estimate is 10 times official figures at over 100k..... contraction rate completely unclear as very few are tested.... there is no credible vaccines pipeline nor has any remedial health care infastructure been put in place. BD is on a precipice.... there is no silver lining and i believe if anything i am under exaggerating based on reports from friends and families there.

Sorry but when did I say you can mix vaccines without prior testing?

Are you aware that AstraZeneca and Sputnik are both viral-vector vaccines and the two countries are currently trialling mixing the two doses to see if this enhances the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine?

You are in UK and so you should know that AstraZeneca vaccine 2 dose interval is actually recommended to be stretched out to 12 weeks. Like I say as long as SII of India resumes supplies this time next month, then all those with 1st dose can be given their 2nd dose within 12 weeks. If Modi does not lift the export ban by then I will be the first to call him out on this.

The information I have from family in BD is that the virus is well under control in their area and not a single person out of thousands of relatives and aquaintances in BD have died from Covid-19, let alone even been hospitalised.
In contrast I know 1 close relation that died here in the UK, one ex-family friend also died and also two close relatives that were hospitalised.

Your personal information is just that - your own and maybe not what is happening in BD as a whole.

Even take your estimate of 100K deaths, that is still 1/4 to 1/5th that of UK per capita. If this happened here then the PM would be celebrated as a genius who managed the pandemic well.

This conversation is going round in circles now, let us just wait and see what happens as we are all observers who have no influence on the handling of the pandemic in BD and AL will do what they want to do.

 

[gulli]

Doraiswami must be out of his mind.

Covaxin is in far more in demand than Covishiled in India and out of stock since it is produced 10 times less than Covishiled by SII.

In own state, the capital gets Covaxin where ministers and Bureaucrats get it, while rest of the state get Covishild.

Also price of Covaxin is 25% more than Covishild, sold to the state govts in India.

problem are the state government who are all after covishiel due to kick backs involved. Modi took Covaxin...

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

@DalalErMaNodi

A bhai,

Covaxin is actually a good product. Notwithstanding the early bad rap it got (mainly because of its association with Feku Maharaj). Even Luqmanbhai (who you know hates Feku) has expressed the opinion. Unless BD has a better product, it should consider it.

Regards

I'm afraid you misunderstood bhai, I do not know as to the efficacy of this vaccine and as such will not make any comment on the matter...


What I meant was that serum already failed to keep true to the terms of the contract and deliver us vaccines we have already paid for in advance.. and the Indian government is doing little to fix this 'rut'.

As such it would be ill-advised to award anymore vaccine contracts to Indian firms at a time when all resources including vaccines are needed at home urgently..


Not to forget the unsaid terms that come with vaccine diplomacy..


It would just be that much more prudent for us to look elsewhere or manufacture the vaccines at home.

 

[Bilal9]

I believe a lot of (the largest dozen) local Bangladeshi pharma companies have facilities which rival or are better than Serum Institute (other than scale of production maybe), so why are they not coming forward with their own vaccine plans??

Only Globe Biotech and a couple of other smaller outfits submitted clinical trial plans. Incepta Pharma has been given responsibility to produce Sputnik 5 vaccine.

Of course Beximco could produce any vaccine they wanted, but Darbesh' oversmart planning fell flat on its face.

That still leaves Square Pharma, Renata, HPL, Opsonin, ACI, Eskayef and a half dozen others who are surely capable of developing vaccines or at least producing them from foreign formulation like SII is doing.

Is there no money in it?

@UKBengali bhai what is your opinion?

 

[UKBengali]

I believe a lot of (the largest dozen) local Bangladeshi pharma companies have facilities which rival or are better than Serum Institute (other than scale of production maybe), so why are they not coming forward with their own vaccine plans??

Only Globe Biotech and a couple of other smaller outfits submitted clinical trial plans. Incepta Pharma has been given responsibility to produce Sputnik 5 vaccine.

Of course Beximco could produce any vaccine they wanted, but Darbesh' oversmart planning fell flat on its face.

That still leaves Square Pharma, Renata, HPL, Opsonin, ACI, Eskayef and a half dozen others who are surely capable of developing vaccines or at least producing them from foreign formulation like SII is doing.

Is there no money in it?

@UKBengali bhai what is your opinion?

I think that 2 BD companies should have been supported by government to make 2 types of vaccine - Globe Biotech with their current mRNA vaccine and one of the others with a viral-vector vaccine like the ones from AstraZeneca and the Sputnik vaccine, both of which are excellent vaccines.

Remember it is quite complex and expensive to set up all the infrastructure to manufacture vaccines and BD would have needed to create a lot of capabilities in the last year to have the infrastructure to do this.

Whichever way, BD could never be 100% self-sufficient in such a short time in all aspects of vaccine production, and so would always be reliant for others for critical raw materials/equipment.



@mb444

Bangladesh seeks share of 60 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses from US

Washington is putting a plan in place regarding the distribution of the vaccines, says US Secretary of State Blinken

www.dhakatribune.com

Although it is not guaranteed the US is likely to give a few million of these doses to BD and so even if the Indians do not resume export of AstraZeneca vaccine to BD by early next month, then hopefully those due their 2nd doses can get it within the manufacturer recommended 12 week interval.