The government has permitted in principle doing the clinical trial of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine through the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b).
Health minister ZahidMaleque made the announcement on Thursday at a briefing at Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital after holding a meeting on 'Vaccine Trial and Its Progress'.
"The government has decided in principle to allow vaccine trail to prevent corona," he said, adding that the government will sincerely consider the issue of vaccine trial if any other country proposes after reviewing its efficacy.
The application of the Chinese companythrough ICDDR,B for vaccine trial has been approved after analysingits efficacy, he said.
The minister said the country will get vaccine as soon as the vaccine trial is completed.
Answering questions, he said Sinovac has been conducting the trial in Indonesia and in a process to start trial in Turkey and some other countries.
China has kept Bangladesh on top of the choice list. If Bangladesh takes part in the trial, it will get 0.1 million dosesof vaccine free of cost. The country will get priority in the procurement of other vaccines too.
Whether the government will allow other countries' vaccine for trial, Mr.Maleque said the clinical trial of eight companies are at the final stage. Bangladesh will consider the trial proposals if other countries show the interest.
Regarding the interest on procurement of vaccine, he said Bangladesh will get vaccine free of cost considering the per capita income. But the government will not wait for the free vaccine or will not remain behind in vaccine purchase.
According to an icddr,bstatement: "We appreciate the government of Bangladesh for taking time to evaluate our application for the phase-III trial of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine critically and giving approval for the trial."
Earlier,the Sinovac Research and Development Co Ltd. appealed through the icddr,b to the health authorities for conducting third phase trial of its vaccine in Bangladesh.
The company has informed that it will initially conduct vaccine trials on 4,200 health workers of seven COVID-19 dedicated hospitals in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) on July 19 approved icddr,b to conduct phase-3 human trial of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese company.
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