Govt wants to produce AstraZeneca vaccine locally

Must ensure effective planning before proceeding

The government's recent request to British-Swedish pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, to authorise the production of its Covid-19 vaccine in  Bangladesh, is a pragmatic one in the backdrop of vaccine manufacturing countries halting supplies to other countries in order to meet domestic demand. Specifically, the government has proposed to either import the vaccine in bulk amounts and repackage it, or manufacture it from the vaccine seed using AstraZeneca's technology. The reason AstraZeneca's vaccine in particular is sought-after by Bangladesh is because it is low-cost and more suitable to store and handle in the country's climate.