Bangladesh to resume inoculation with AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday

Those waiting to receive their second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will not have to wait much longer.

The Directorate General of Health Services, or DGHS, will begin administering the vaccine once again in Dhaka from Monday and in the rest of the country from Aug 7.

The decision was made after 1 million new doses of the shot arrived from Japan under the COVAX facility.

“We hope to resume administering the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to those who missed out in Dhaka and its nearby district towns from tomorrow,” said Md Shamsul Haque, the member secretary of the DGHS Vaccine Deployment Committee. “From Aug 7 we can administer the second dose all across the country.”

“People will be able to receive the second dose from the very same centre they got the first dose in,” he said.

Those waiting for these second doses do not need to wait for another SMS to alert them about the date of their vaccine, but can show the old SMS and get the shot, the official said.

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Bangladesh began its COVID mass vaccination campaign with the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India.

The government made an agreement with the institution to procure 35 million doses of the vaccine, but India stopped exporting them after the first 7 million arrived in Bangladesh. India has also gifted 3.2 million doses of the vaccine.

Since then, Bangladesh has begun procuring vaccines from China. It has also received the Pfizer and Moderna jabs through COVAX.

But those who received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine were caught in a dilemma because they could not receive another brand of shot to complete their vaccination.

Currently 1,521,947 citizens have yet to get the second dose of AstraZeneca, Dr Shamsul said.

More doses will be arriving from Japan soon.

“We have received 1,026,320 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Japanese government through COVAX and another 600,000 are to arrive by Aug 3,” he said.

The first shipment of 245,000 doses will be distributed in Dhaka city and its nearby districts, he said.

Then, from Aug 7 to Aug 12, the national vaccination campaign will be extended to the union, municipal and city corporation levels.

He urged everyone who registered for the vaccine to receive the doses at the centres they registered for.

“It will be difficult to get the proper paperwork if you take a vaccine from somewhere else. It will be difficult to get a vaccine certificate.”