Beximco Pharma will buy up to three million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from the Serum Institute of India at $8 each dose to sell for $14 on the private market, according to a Beximco Pharma announcement.
The government has so far allowed Beximco Pharma alone to import and sell COVID-19 vaccines on the local market alongside the government’s limited mass-vaccination programme beginning early February, officials said.
According to health rights campaigners, the government has thus granted a privilege to the private sector, particularly to Beximco, to make money out of the coronavirus crisis.
Health minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday said that they had formed a committee to formulate a guideline on the private sale and administration processes of COVID-19 vaccines.
The committee has been formed to formulate the guideline on selling and administering COVID-19 vaccines for private entities after several other private companies too sought permission from the Directorate General of Health Services in this regard, said the health agency’s director general ABM Khurshid Alam on the day.
‘Beximco has already got the approval, but in the past three days we’ve received applications from seven other private entities, including two private hospitals,’ he said.
‘The committee will approve those establishments which will be found capable after analysing their capacity,’ he said.
The import and sale of drugs require approval from the Directorate General of Drug Administration.
DGDA spokesperson Ayub Hossain said, ‘We’ve so far allowed Beximco Pharma to import and use COVID-19 vaccines in the country.’
DGDA deputy director Salah Uddin, who is responsible for the issuance of permission regarding COVID-19 vaccines, said that they had so far dealt with no applications from private entities other than Beximco. He declined to give further details, including how the price of vaccine has been fixed at $14 for private sale by Beximco Pharma.
Beximco plans to begin importing the vaccine from the Serum early February for private trading side by side with the government’s public vaccination.
According to a Beximco Pharma statement to the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, the company has agreed to import a further one million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum for sale and distribution to the private pay market in Bangladesh, alongside the supply of 30 million doses for the Bangladesh government, as the sole distributor of Serum’s vaccine in Bangladesh.
The first 500,000 doses are expected to be delivered to Beximco Pharma at the end of January 2021 and will be offered for sale from February 2021 after the government of Bangladesh commences its mass vaccination programme, said Beximco.
The remaining 500,000 doses are expected to arrive towards the end of February 2021, it added.
Beximco, which is paying $8 in cost and freight for each private pay market dose, is targeting a retail price of Tk 1,200, approximately $14, the company further said.
Beximco Pharma may import additional quantities of the vaccine for the private pay market, depending on demand… the company has requested up to a further two million doses from the Serum over the four months from March 2021, it said.
Unlike other countries, Bangladesh has allowed private sale of COVID-19 vaccines when the demand for the vaccine is sky-high worldwide, drawing criticisms from public health rights campaigners.
They said that it was an undue privilege to private companies, particularly Beximco Pharma, to make money out of the coronavirus crisis.
No countries, including the USA, the UK and Australia, have allowed private sale of COVID-19 vaccines.
As said by health rights campaigner and noted virologist Nazrul Islam, the government has the financial ability to inoculate the whole population but it is allowing private firms to cash in on the COVID-19 crisis.
‘It’s disgusting to see that the government is allowing private businesses to profit from the coronavirus crisis,’ he said.
Asked, DGHS chief Khurshid said that the private sector contributed to the Bangladesh healthcare system and they could have the privilege of private trading of COVID-19 vaccines.
The health agency on Monday announced that the nationwide vaccination against COVID-19 would begin in the first week of February as 50 lakh doses, the first instalment, of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are expected to be supplied by Beximco Pharma by January 25.
As per a tripartite deal between the government, Beximco and Serum, Bangladesh will get 30 million doses of the vaccine in phases by June.
As a low-income country, Bangladesh with an over 160 million population will also get some 68 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines at a subsidised rate from the global vaccine alliance GAVI.
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