The much-talked-about mass trial of a Chinese coronavirus vaccine in Bangladesh has become uncertain after drugmaker Sinovac Biotech Ltd asked the government to co-finance the initiative.
Sinovac Biotech Ltd in a letter on September 24 said the trial would be delayed unless the government provided funds, although the company was supposed to bear the costs as per an agreement.
The Beijing-based vaccine giant sent the letter to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), which was to conduct the trial.
The icddr,b forwarded it to the health ministry.
"They [Sinovac] informed us that they would be able to start the trial soon if we co-fund the initiative. We will make a decision after talking to the prime minister," Abdul Mannan, secretary of the health services division at the health ministry, told The Daily Star on Thursday.
