Serum institute delays vaccine for private sale in Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd said on Thursday the Serum Institute of India (SII) had delayed the first supplies of a COVID-19 vaccine for private sale, instead prioritising government immunisation campaigns.
Beximco is Bangladesh’s exclusive distributor of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca shot that SII, the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer, is producing in bulk for low- and medium-income countries.
The Bangladeshi company last week received 5 million of the 30 million doses it had ordered from SII for Bangladesh’s immunisation programme that begins next week.
Beximco had separately ordered 1 million doses for sale on the private market, with the hope to start marketing it this month.
“However, the company has now been informed by SII that the first instalment (500,000 doses) of this supply will be delayed following a prioritisation on supplying vaccine doses for government mass vaccination programmes and WHO-led COVAX initiatives over private pay use,” Beximco said in a regulatory filing.
