The government started administering the fourth dose (second booster) of Covid-19 vaccine today. Professor Dr Ahmedul Kabir, additional director general (ADG) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), inaugurated the campaign at 9:30 am at Kurmitola General Hospital in Dhaka. The government has taken the initiative to administer a fourth dose against Covid-19 as the antibody from the vaccine doesn't last long, said Ahmedul Kabir. “Our aim is to vaccinate 80 lakh people in five categories at the moment though four crore people are eligible to receive the fourth dose in the country. Already 460 people have received the fourth dose on a trial basis,” he said. Read More: 4th dose of Covid vaccine to be administered from Dec 20 The priority will be given to frontline workers and pregnant women, he added. Dr Shamshul Haque, DGHS director of the vaccine campaign, said 15 crore people got the first dose, 12 crore the second dose, and 6.5 crore the third dose of vaccine against Covid-19. “Still there are 1.33 lakh doses of vaccine in stock and will bring more after administering those. There are 11.5 crore people aged above 18 years and all will get vaccinated with the second booster dose in phases,” he added. According to an earlier announcement, the fourth dose will be given at seven centers in the beginning. One hundred people will be vaccinated at each designated centre and they will be kept under observation for two weeks, said the ADG. All citizens having health risks will be vaccinated with the second booster dose from January 1 next year. Read More: Citizens aged above 60 to get 4th dose of Covid vaccine: Health Minister.

Some 20-30 lakh more doses of Covid-19 vaccine will arrive in Bangladesh on February 22, said  Nazmul Hassan Papon, the Managing Director of Beximco Pharmaceuticals on Monday.

Covid-19 fatalities in Bangladesh soared to 8,003 as the country’s health authorities confirmed 22 more deaths in 24 hours till Saturday morning.

As vaccinating millions of people across the country to control Covid-19 looks to be a daunting task, the government has prepared a masterplan and necessary guidelines to do the job properly.

The government will initially provide three crore free doses of Covid-19 vaccine to the citizens of the country selecting the recipients following the protocol of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The Cabinet on Wednesday expressed the hope that Bangladesh will get the Covid-19 vaccine on priority basis, once it is ready, as the government is in touch with all the countries and organisations trying to develop it.

As many countries and companies are racing to develop vaccines to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, experts said Bangladesh needs to make ‘vaccine diplomacy’ a part of its strategy to get one fast once it is ready.