DHAKA, Jun 1 (NNN-BSS) – Bangladesh will conduct a week-long special campaign from Jun 4, to expedite inoculation with COVID-19 booster doses.
People aged 18 and above, who have received their second dose of COVID-19 vaccines, at least four months earlier, will be allowed to receive a booster jab during this special campaign.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), under the Ministry of Health, issued a release yesterday in this regard. According to the release, people can receive the booster dose at the nearest vaccination centre, from 9:00 a.m. local time every day till June 10.
It said, the existing vaccination drive will continue simultaneously.
Bangladesh began its COVID-19 vaccination drive in Jan last year, to contain the pandemic. The government halted administering first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine after India banned vaccine exports, and resumed in June last year, with the China-donated Sinopharm vaccines.
More than half of the vaccines administered in the country were China’s Sinopharm vaccines.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said here yesterday that, it delivered over 190 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Bangladesh, through the COVAX Facility, a global initiative for equal access to vaccines, led by the World Health Organisation, along with several other organisations, with UNICEF as a key delivery partner.
To date, Bangladesh remains a top recipient of doses under COVAX, it said.
According to UNICEF, COVAX accounts for more than 62 percent of the total doses Bangladesh has received, and the country has so far fully vaccinated 69 percent of its population.– NNN-BSS
