Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday said the government will receive around 21 crore doses of Covid vaccines early next year to bring the country’s 80 percent population under the vaccination coverage.
“Now Bangladesh's most important task is to collect vaccines. The government has now over one crore doses of vaccines in its stock, while it’ll get two more crore doses by next month,” he said.
Speaking at a virtual discussion arranged by Bangladesh Private Medical College Association (BPMCA), the minister said, “The government will receive about 21 crore doses of vaccines, including three crore doses from China, seven crore each from Russia and Johnson & Johnson, and three crore from AstraZeneca early next year. We hope the government will be able to vaccinate at least 80 percent of the country’s population with these vaccine jabs.”
He said all the citizens above 18 years of age will be vaccinated from now on to keep the country's educational institutions functional and bring most citizens under the mass vaccination drive.
Read: Bangladesh to go for Covid vaccine coproduction soon: FM
The minister said they have already asked the ICT Division to take steps so that people above 18 years of age can register for vaccination through the government-approved "Surokkha" app.
Over four percent of the country's population has so far been vaccinated since the government launched the mass vaccination programme on February 7 last by administering Covishield.