Renata wants to bring the Moderna vaccine to Bangladesh
Renata Pharmaceuticals has
sought permission from the government to import the coronavirus vaccine
developed by US drug manufacturing company Moderna.
"Renata Pharmaceuticals has
submitted an application seeking permission to import Moderna's Covid vaccine.
The relevant documents have been sent to the Directorate General of Drug
Administration (DGDA), which is verifying the company's capacity," said Dr
ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of the Directorate General of Health
Services.
Noting that the vaccines need to
be preserved at a temperature of below zero degrees, the health directorate
chief said "We can preserve this vaccine in Dhaka, but there is no
arrangement to store it outside Dhaka."
He made the disclosure talking
to reporters in the capital on Monday.
Earlier on 30 April, the World
Health Organization (WHO) listed the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA 1273) for
emergency use, making it the fifth vaccine to receive emergency validation from
WHO.
WHO's Emergency Use Listing
(EUL) assesses the quality, safety, and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, a
prerequisite for supplying vaccine to the
global COVAX initiative. WHO's EUL also allows countries to expedite
their own regulatory approval to import and administer COVID-19 vaccines.
The vaccine was reviewed by WHO's
Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), which made
recommendations for vaccine use in populations (i.e. recommended age groups,
intervals between shots, and advice for specific groups such as pregnant and
lactating women).
SAGE recommended the vaccine for
all age groups 18 and above in its interim recommendations dated 25 January
2021.
The US Food and Drug
Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the Moderna vaccine on
18 December 2020, and a marketing authorisation valid throughout the European
Union was granted by the European Medicines Agency on 6 January 2021.