United News of Bangladesh

Bangladesh has received 3,83,080 doses of polio vaccine from Chinese company Sinovac Biotech, Health and Family Welfare Minister Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Husain said on Wednesday. “We now have sufficient vaccine stock in hand. We will begin administering polio vaccines and there will be no problem in this regard,” he said at a press conference on the current status of government vaccines. Currently the government is prioritising restoring public confidence in vaccination programmes instead of identifying those responsible for any mismanagement related to measles vaccines, he said. Many measles patients later develop pneumonia which in some cases becomes life-threatening and requires ventilator support as the final stage of treatment, he said. “We have ensured adequate ventilator support. As of today, we have received 10 more ventilators donated from the United States by a private pharmaceutical entrepreneur and those will be distributed today,” he added. The minister said anti-rabies vaccination has already resumed and assured that no patient would remain outside vaccination coverage. “All vaccination programmes are now continuing,” he said, adding that there is currently a slight shortage of Vitamin A capsules, but sufficient supplies are expected by June. Vitamin A supplementation campaigns would continue twice a year according to the existing schedule, stressing that no shortage would be allowed in the sector, he said. Children who are still outside routine immunisation coverage would be identified and vaccinated under the ongoing Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), he said. Responding to a question on whether the government would investigate alleged mismanagement in vaccination activities, he said the authorities would take a decision after the current crisis subsides. Responding to a question on whether those responsible for mismanagement in the vaccination programme would face an investigation, the minister said, “I did not say that we would not investigate. We are currently going through a crisis period. Once this crisis ends, we will take a decision centrally.”