Published in: The Daily Star
Date: 02 August, 2021

The government will resume administering the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 in Dhaka division from today to those who have been waiting for their second dose of the vaccine.

Dr Shamsul Haque, line director of the Maternal Neonatal Child and Adolescent Health (MNC&AH) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said this during the health bulletin yesterday.

People in other divisions will get the second dose from August 7, he added.

He said a text will be sent to people who had earlier received the first AstraZeneca dose. However, those who had earlier received the text for the second dose but did not get the shot will not need an SMS to get the second dose.

The development came as the country on Saturday received 7.81 lakh doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Japan under the Covax facility.

Bangladesh has so far received 10.26 lakh doses of the vaccine from Japan, which has committed to supply 30 lakh AstraZeneca doses to Bangladesh.

India had first supplied 70 lakh of the contracted 3 crore AstraZeneca doses in January and February and additionally 33 lakh doses as gift, but then suspended the supply because of rising infections in India.

Bangladesh had launched a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign with the vaccine on February 7. Administration of first doses was suspended on April 26 because of shortage. Around 15 lakh people are still waiting for their second dose.

After about two months, Bangladesh resumed mass vaccination on July 8 with the Sinopharm vaccine from China.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday said preparations were going on to vaccinate one crore people against Covid-19 within the next week.

The minister said this while attending the inauguration ceremony of the first year MBBS class at the BCPS auditorium in the capital.

As Covid infections keep rising in the country, he urged all to unfailingly abide by health guidelines.

A mass vaccination campaign will start at the union level on August 7 and elderly people who do not have NID cards will be able to get vaccinated, said Maleque.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/health/disease/coronavirus/fallouts-fightback/vaccine/news/astrazeneca-vaccines-second-dose-administration-resumes-today-2142481