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.

Covid-19 fatalities in Bangladesh rose to 8,266 on Saturday as the health authorities recorded 13 more deaths in 24 hours till morning.

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

Though the government is set to launch the mass Coronavirus Covid-19 vaccination program across the country on February 7, public apathy to get registered for it looks to be a major challenge to make the drive a success.