Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Wednesday that 50 per cent of the vaccination target can be achieved by December this year as Covid-19 jabs are arriving in the country as planned.

"We have already proven that it is possible to give 80 lakh doses of vaccine in a day if the health sector wants. So from now on, if three crore doses of vaccine arrive in the country every month as per the demand, we will be able to give them to the people," said the minister.

The minister stated this at a meeting on healthcare and development issues of the country organised by UHFPO, an organisation of Upazila Health Officers, at Hotel Intercontinental in the capital.

The minister said the country has also started inoculating school-going students between the ages of 12 and18 and gradually all the people of the country will be vaccinated.

The minister said even though Bangladesh itself has not produced any vaccine yet, the country now has almost all types of vaccines produced in the world.

Read: Japan to provide more vaccine doses through COVAX in Nov

"From now on, at least three crore doses of vaccine will come to the country every month," Zahid said. He also mentioned that the shipment of Chinese Sinopharm vaccines continues as per the agreement.

More vaccines have begun to arrive as per the agreement through the World Health Organization. Serum Institute of India has also started the export of Covishield vaccine.

Other vaccines including Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca under the COVAX facility have started to arrive in the country.

Referring to the opposition's criticism of the country's health sector, the health minister said that his ministry successfully dealt with dengue along with combating Covid-19. This has been appreciated internationally.

Besides, Bangladesh has ranked 26th in the world in tackling Covid pandemic in a recent survey conducted by Nippon in Japan, including Bloomberg and the World Health Organization, he said.

Prof ABM Khurshid Alam, Director General of Department of Health, Ebadul Karim MP, Managing Director of Beacon Pharmaceuticals, and Lokman Hossain Mia, Senior Secretary of Department of Health Services, were present among others at the meeting.