JavaScript is off. Please enable to view full site.

India's Bharat Biotech seeks Bangladesh trial for COVID vaccine approved at home

India's Bharat Biotech seeks Bangladesh trial for COVID vaccine approved at home

Thursday, January 21, 2021, 16:41 GMT+7
India's Bharat Biotech seeks Bangladesh trial for COVID vaccine approved at home
Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan holds a dose of Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine called COVAXIN, during a vaccination campaign at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital in New Delhi, India, January 16, 2021. Photo: Reuters

India’s Bharat Biotech has applied to conduct trials in Bangladesh for its coronavirus vaccine recently approved for emergency use at home, a senior official at Bangladesh’s main medical research body told Reuters.

If allowed to go ahead, this would be the first trial of any coronavirus vaccine in Bangladesh and could give the densely-populated country of more than 160 million faster access to the shot for mass use.

The vaccine, developed with the Indian Council of Medical Research, was given the green light for restricted use in India this month without any efficacy data from a late-stage trial. Early tests, however, found it to be safe and generating an immune response in humans.

“We have received their proposal,” said Mahmood-uz-Jahan, a director at the state-run Bangladesh Medical Research Council, adding that its ethics committee would review the application.

He declined to give details.

The Dhaka-based International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), has applied to run the trial on behalf of Bharat Biotech, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter who declined to be named citing internal rules.

ICDDR,B declined to comment. Spokespeople for Bharat Biotech had no immediate comment.

Sinovac Biotech’s late-stage trial of a potential vaccine in Bangladesh has become uncertain after Dhaka refused to meet the Chinese company’s demand for co-funding.

Bharat Biotech started a late-stage trial for COVAXIN at home in November and a top Indian government vaccine official, Vinod Kumar Paul, has told Reuters that a smaller study involving 1,000-2,000 people could also be done in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh will from Thursday start receiving millions of India-made doses of another vaccine licensed from Oxford University and AstraZeneca. It is being mass produced by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker.

Bangladesh, however, has no immediate plans to buy COVAXIN whose efficacy data from the late India trial are expected by March.

“Our vaccine procurement is in good shape. We are going to start the vaccination in the first week of February,” Bangladesh Health Secretary Abdul Mannan told Reuters.

“No plan to buy from Bharat Biotech at present.”

Brazil is the only country that has publicly announced plans to buy COVAXIN doses from India.

The company on Thursday submitted an application for the emergency use of the vaccine in the Philippines.

Reuters

More

Read more

;

Photos

VIDEOS

‘Taste of Australia’ gala dinner held in Ho Chi Minh City after 2-year hiatus

Taste of Australia Gala Reception has returned to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Vietnamese woman gives unconditional love to hundreds of adopted children

Despite her own immense hardship, she has taken in and cared for hundreds of orphans over the past three decades.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta celebrates spring with ‘hat boi’ performances

The art form is so popular that it attracts people from all ages in the Mekong Delta

Vietnamese youngster travels back in time with clay miniatures

Each work is a scene caught by Dung and kept in his memories through his journeys across Vietnam

Latest news