Some 37,200 doses of China-made Sinopharm vaccine arrived in Sylhet on Friday for resuming the second phase of the Covid-19 vaccination program.

Premananda Mandal, Civil Surgeon of Sylhet, received the vaccines on Friday morning.

The vaccines are stored at a temperature of 2 to 6 degrees centigrade in the EPI Cold Storage at the Civil Surgeon's Office.

Jahidul Islam Sumon, chief health officer of the Sylhet City Corporation in charge of vaccination activities in the Sylhet metropolitan area, said the vaccination program will start around 9-10 am on Saturday at Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital.

He said no instructions have been received so far for conducting vaccination at other centers in Sylhet.

On Saturday, the vaccination program will be inaugurated by vaccinating the students of Osmani Medical College.

Students would be vaccinated after showing voter ID cards or college ID cards, he added.

Also read: Pfizer, Sinopharm shots to start June 19: Health Minister

In Sunamganj, Civil Surgeon Dr Shamsuddin received six thousands doses of Sinopharm vaccine on Friday.

According to the government's policy, the vaccination program will be conducted at Sunamganj Sadar Hospital in the second phase from Saturday.

He further said the 6,000 doses will be given only in Sadar and if more vaccines arrive later, they will be given in every upazila.

Meanwhile in Sherpur, Civil Surgeon Dr AKM Anwarul Rauf received 12,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine the same day.

The vaccination drive in the district will also resume at Sherpur General Hospital from Saturday.

In Chattogram, 91,200 doses of the vaccine arrived in the third phase.

Chattogram District Civil Surgeon Sheikh Fazle Rabbi received the vaccines on Friday.

Also read: Second consignment of Sinopharm vaccine arrives

Vaccination drive may resume from Saturday or Sunday at Chattogram Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), if the government directs, said the Civil Surgeon.

This time there will be only one center for vaccination in every district except the capital Dhaka. The vaccination drive will be conducted at a medical college hospital in a district where there is a medical college hospital, and at a general hospital in a district where there is no medical college hospital.

Besides, health workers and police personnel, students of government and private medical and dental colleges, students of government nursing and midwifery, students of dormitory halls of government universities, officers and employees working on important national projects, expatriate workers, cleaners, those who engaged in burial of bodies and who were excluded from vaccination before and citizens of other countries who are working here will be vaccinated on a priority basis.

Meanwhile, on Friday afternoon, while exchanging views with local people's representatives at his residence in Garpara, Manikganj, Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Malek said the country has not yet fully started the vaccination drive.

The minister said, "We hope to get vaccinated soon. We will get the vaccine from China and Russia. We will also get vaccines from the agreement with India which have not been delivered yet."

He further said, "Immediately after vaccination a person is not protected, it takes a month."

Also read: Sinopharm begins shipment of its vaccine to Bangladesh

The health minister also said Delta variant has also spread in our country. Its transmission capacity is 50 percent higher.

"So, this is the time we have to follow the health protocols, we have to protect ourselves, we have to protect the family, we have to protect the country," he added.

The government halted administering the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on April 26 considering the dwindling stock of its jabs.

Also, registration for the Covid-19 vaccination remained suspended amid uncertainty over the availability of promised vaccine doses from India's Serum Institute.

However, the mass vaccination of Covid-19 is expected to resume in July next as the government is making all-out efforts to collect vaccines, said Principal Secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus Thursday. "The government has allotted a fund of Tk14,000 crore for the procurement of vaccines as it’s an all-out effort to ensure Covid jabs for all."

The government has so far approved the emergency use of Oxford-AstraZeneca, Sinopharm (China), Sputnik-V (Russia), Pfizer-BioNTech (USA/Germany) and Crona Vac (China) vaccines.