Bangladesh
Covid-19 Vaccination Government to administer 10 crore coronavirus vaccine doses by December, says Health Minister Maleque
Dhaka, September 27: The government plans to administer about 10 crore doses of coronavirus vaccines by December. Health Minister Zahid Maleque made the announcement at a virtual press conference on Sunday (September 26).
He said the government has planned to give 80 lakh doses during a mass vaccination campaign on Tuesday, to mark Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 75th birthday. Most of the doses used will be from Sinopharm.
Earlier, a mass vaccination campaign was run from August 7 to August 12. In September, the second dose of the vaccine was administered during a second campaign.
The Health Minister said September 28 is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's birthday. The vaccination program will start on this day. For now, the campaign will run for one day. Vaccination will continue until the campaign targets are met. Vaccination will be given in multiple shifts if required. Apart from this, regular ongoing programs will also be conducted, said Zahid Maleque.
He said that at present, six lakh doses of vaccine are being given daily during the the regular vaccination program.
On Tuesday, priority will be given to those who live in rural areas, the poor, and the elderly. However, only the first dose of vaccine will be given during this campaign. Pregnant women and lactating mothers will not be vaccinated on this day. Vaccination activities will be carried out in more than 6,000 centers in Union, City Corporation and Municipality areas.
Elaborating on the number of vaccinations received in the country so far, Zahid Maleque said the government has been trying to get vaccinations for a long time. Initially, there was an agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for vaccination. He said some vaccines were also received there, but it was stopped in the middle as the coronavirus pandemic situation in India deteriorated.
Since then, there has been an agreement of seven crore coronavirus vaccine doses from China. Pfizer vaccines from the USA have also started coming through the COVAX facility.
Stating that the country is in a comfortable position, the minister said so far 5.5 crore doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been received. Of these, four crore doses have been administered, so far. The country currently has 1.5 crore doses of vaccine in hand.
