ED: Ensuring a steady supply of vaccines

It is encouraging to see that Bangladesh will receive 106,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine next month, under the Covax scheme, which is co-led by the World Health Organization, the Gavi vaccine alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. 

This, coupled with the 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine donated by the Chinese government to Bangladesh that arrived last week, shows positive intent from the government, and deserves credit. 

However, this intent to procure vaccines must continue. Indeed, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself has stated that her government will leave no stone unturned to procure vaccines for the citizens of Bangladesh, and we must hold her to her words. 

As it currently stands though, due to the alarming condition in India which has been utterly ravaged by Covid-19, we have been unable to receive the doses promised to us by India’s Serum Institute, and we now face a shortage of vaccines. This is why, currently, registration for receiving the first dose of the vaccine remains halted, and many are awaiting their second jab as well. 

Moving forward, we must begin vaccination as quickly as possible, and claiming a shortage of vaccines as the reason can simply not be a legitimate excuse. As this newspaper editorialized on several occasions, it was not the wisest strategy to procure our vaccines from only one source and not diversify. 

However, there is still time to correct our course and get back on the right path, which starts with aggressive vaccine procurement and restarting the vaccination process of first doses at the earliest, which remains the best course of action against the pandemic.