On Wednesday, Bangladesh crossed the three lakh mark of known coronavirus infections in the country, bringing the total number of cases to 3,02,147, with over 4,000 deaths. A constant positivity rate of around 20 percent shows how far-reaching the spread of the disease still is, and that the pandemic is far from over for us. In this scenario, we need to do everything within our means to stop community transmission of Covid-19 and ensure that response fatigue does not set in.

While urgent and immediate steps to contain coronavirus now are of the utmost importance, we also need to be making preparations for the future. Although Bangladesh is currently the 15th worst affected country in the world, less than one percent of its population has been infected, according to IEDCR data—whereas, to achieve herd immunity, a country would require at least 70 percent of the population to be infected. In this scenario, it is obvious that Bangladesh is in dire need of a vaccine as soon as it is available if we are to get coronavirus under control.

However, according to experts, we have made little progress with regard to procuring a potential vaccine. So far, the only step that has been taken by the government is a submission of an expression of interest as a member of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI). This is despite an offer from the Chinese organisation Sinovac, one of over 203 research organisations working to develop a vaccine, to include Bangladesh in its phase-III trials. While there have been mentions of collaborating with India regarding trials, no further steps have been taken in this regard either.

We have already seen enough delay, apathy and mismanagement in our response to containing the spread of coronavirus in Bangladesh. The government must ensure that such lethargic responses do not cripple our attempts to procure a much-needed vaccine as well. We urge the government to explore all possible avenues, whether it is applying through the COVAX facility mechanism to get vaccines from WHO and the GAVI, or entering into bilateral negotiations with vaccine-inventing companies or governments to negotiate ease of access. In all of these scenarios, we must be guided by expert opinions and not political concerns.