Bangladesh will resume vaccination with Astrazeneca jabs soon, said DGHS spokesperson Prof Dr Nazmul Islam on Wednesday. “We had to stop giving Astrazeneca vaccine to people halfway through due to its short supply. But we’re hopeful of resuming its rollout soon as we’ve received a supply from Japan,” he said during the regular briefing of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). "We’ll get more AstraZeneca supplies within a few days. The wait of those who’re worried about the second dose will hopefully end soon,” he added. Read: Vaccination at union level to start on Aug 7: Home Minster Responding to a question on why the vaccination drive with Astrazeneca has not resumed yet, the spokesperson said,” We’re waiting for the arrival of further supplies.” Bangladesh received the first consignment of 2,45,200 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Japan on July 24. Read: Age limit to be lowered to 18 for Covid vaccination: Health DG The vaccine doses came under the COVAX facility. Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Naoki Ito earlier said Japan would provide a total of 3 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Bangladesh.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has ruled out any uncertainty over receiving vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd. “We’ve already paid for the vaccine. So... we’ll get it,” he told reporters while briefing virtually on the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Wednesday. Also read: Vaccine drive to continue with AstraZeneca shot: Health Secretary He informed that the second dose of vaccine will be administered in time. He also said that the health minister had also attended the purchase body meeting and did not express any apprehension over uncertainty about receiving the vaccine doses. Also read: Virus variants, vaccine inequity responsible for rising Covid caseload: WHO Mustafa Kamal also turned down the idea of going for lockdown to contain coronavirus transmission. He said there will be no need for any such measures as the vaccination programme has been continuing. “Once vaccination is completed, the situation will improve,” he said. “The countries, which are running the vaccination programme, are witnessing a fall in infection.” Also read: Modi to bring 12 lakh more vaccine doses as gift for Bangladesh Responding to a question on World Bank’s economic growth projection at 3.6 percent, the Finance Minister said the donor agency makes such projection on quarterly basis and the government does it annually.

Bangladesh's daily Covid-19 cases have continued to pass the 1,000-mark for the last three days. The country recorded 1,066 new cases in the last 24 hours until early Friday.

 

JAAGO Foundation, in collaboration with Urmi Group, launched a COVID-19 vaccination awareness campaign with the slogan “Shurokkhatei Rokkha” (Safety through Protection) which will run for 8 days.

More than 15 lakh people have got vaccinated against Covid-19 in Bangladesh since the country launched vaccination drive on February 7, said Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday.

The government is considering to arrange on-spot registration facilities for senior citizens for Covid-19 vaccination.

The government has scrapped the ‘on-spot’ registration for coronavirus doses to avoid crowd in centres and properly run the vaccination campaign, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said Thursday.

Bangladesh on Tuesday said it recorded eight more coronavirus-related deaths and 387 fresh cases in the last 24 hours until morning.

The much-sought Covid-19 vaccination in Bangladesh will start in the first week of February, said Director General of the Health Services (DGHS) Prof Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam.