Over 900,000 people take COVID vaccine in Bangladesh in seven days

More than 900,000 people have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine in Bangladesh in seven days since the mass inoculation began on Feb 7.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 14 Feb 2021, 03:28 PM
Updated : 14 Feb 2021, 03:28 PM

On Sunday, the health workers administered over 169,000 doses across the country, according to the Directorate General of Health Services or DGHS.

At the 47 hospitals in Dhaka, nearly 23,000 people took the jab on Sunday, with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University administering the highest number of 1,324.

Division-wise, Dhaka administered 45,914 doses, Mymensingh 7,357, Chattogram 39,703, Rajshahi 18,965, Rangpur 15,218, Khulna 19,802, Barishal 9,198 and Sylhet 13,196.

As many as 426 people who took the shot so far have reported side effects.

The government is administering the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine doses, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, for free.

It has targeted to give the vaccines to total 130 million people, with 3.5 million doses in the first month of the drive. 

Bangladesh currently has seven million doses of the vaccine. The Indian government sent two million doses as gift while Bangladesh imported five million doses under a deal to buy 30 million doses.

The government began the vaccination drive initially at 1,015 hospitals and centres. It has prepared 7,344 teams for the drive. The DGHS said they have the capacity to administer 300,000 doses a day.