Health Minister Zahid Maleque has said that co-financing was not in the agreement and the company never asked for money when they approached the Bangladesh government. The Minister said that Sinovac had agreed to bear all expenses and give 1.10 lakh free vaccines to the country, reports Reuters. They had also agreed to share the technology with Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies to make the vaccine.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque said that Bangladesh is in talks with at least five frontrunners for the vaccine including Astrazeneca.
The Chinese company Sinovac Biotech had originally put up the proposal for phase 3 trial of the COVID 19 vaccine to Bangladesh through the Dhaka based International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr’b). Government granted final clearance for the clinical trial on August 27. The request for co-financing was made later by the Chinese vaccine company earlier this month.
Rajesh Jha/Dhaka