“A vested quarter has been involved in spreading propaganda against the country since the country’s independence and when Bangladesh signed the deal with India they said the vaccine would not come to the country. But the vaccine has arrived for. Now they have started spreading rumours about vaccine,” he said.
The Minister came up with the remark while talking to reporters after taking a jab of Covid-19 vaccine at 250-bed TB Hospital in Shyamoli on Monday.
Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: 15 more deaths, 292 fresh cases recorded
Many countries in the world are yet to get vaccine but Bangladesh has been able to collect coronavirus vaccine quickly due to diplomatic success of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he added.
Nationwide vaccination drive
The government rolled out a countrywide mass Covid-19 vaccination drive on Sunday, aiming to end the pandemic.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque inaugurated the nationwide inoculation programme through a videoconference from the Health Directorate around 10:30 am.
Also read:Bangladesh kicks off nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive
The vaccine will be administered at 1,005 centers across the country.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque received the first shot of the vaccine at Sheikh Russel National Gastroliver Institute & Hospital in the morning.
According to the DGHS, 50 booths have been set up in 50 hospitals in Dhaka while a total of 204 teams of health workers will administer the vaccine.
Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: 15 more deaths, 292 fresh cases recorded
Situation in Bangladesh
Fifteen more people died of Covid-19 and 292 others got infected by the deadly virus in Bangladesh in the last 24 hours till 8 am on Sunday.
With the fresh ones, the death toll from the virus in the country reached 8,205 while the mortality rate stood at 1.52 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a handout.
It said the daily Covid-19 infection rate in the country is now 2.35 percent.
Meanwhile, the new cases pushed up the national tally to 538,062.
Until this morning, 483,372 patients (89.84 percent of the total reported cases) have recovered.
So far, 3,749,012 samples, including 12,404 during the past 24 hours, have been tested.
Bangladesh reported its first Coronavirus cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18 last year.