Bangladesh to administer 7.5m booster and second doses of COVID vaccines on Tuesday

The Directorate General of Health Services is set to administer the booster and second doses of the coronavirus vaccine to 7.5 million people during a nationwide vaccination campaign on Tuesday.

Booster doses will be administered at all government medical hospitals, specialised hospitals, district-level hospitals and Upazila health complexes and vaccination centres of city corporations and municipal areas simultaneously, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said in a virtual media briefing organised by the DGHS on Monday.

People over 18 years of age who received the second dose at least four months ago will get the booster dose.

The government launched a weeklong special COVID-19 vaccine booster campaign in early June with the aim of giving the shots to 10 million people.

The minister said the latest programme has been taken up due to the surge in coronavirus infections in the country and the low booster dose rate.

“The target can be achieved if everyone works together. Achieving this target will keep the country protected, and will reduce infections. Human death risk will decrease.”

As many as 76.05 percent of Bangladesh's population have received the first dose while 70.3 percent the second dose and 17.9 percent of people received the boosters, according to him.

According to the DGHS, the vaccination campaign on Tuesday will be conducted at 16,181 vaccination centres across the country. A total of 33,246 health workers and 49,869 volunteers will work during the campaign.

Zahid Maleque said that the country currently has a stock of around 27.8 million doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Sinopharm, Sinovac and Johnson & Johnson.