Reza Mahmud :
Everyone is asking whether the first dose recipients who have not yet been vaccinated second dose yet are secured? We are tired answering the query. There is no news of immediate supply of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, Dr. Robed Amin, Spokesman of the Directorate General of Health Services, told The New Nation on Thursday.
The spokesman said the remaining jab of AstraZeneca will be continued for some more days.
About 12 lakh people who received the first dose of the jab will have to wait for the second dose, as there is no certainty of getting the jab immediately.
In this situation the first dose vaccine recipients are worried when they will be getting the second dose.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Zahid Maleque expressed his anxiety over the matter.
“I am worried, you are also worried about the second dose for the rest recipients as no new negotiation has taken place. But we are trying our best,” the Health Minister said in a programme on May 17.
Sources said, India’s Serum Institute is the sole supplier of the jab as per the agreement signed with Bangladesh government with the company.
As per the agreement, Bangladesh was supposed to get about 1.5 crore doses of covid vaccines by March. But the country has got only 70 lakh doses of the jabs from the Serum.
Besides, the Indian government has gifted a total of 32 lakh doses of the vaccines as a friendship gesture.
With these accounts, Bangladesh got a total of one crore and two lakh doses of vaccine.
The Serum Institute failed repeatedly to supply jabs within the scheduled time as per the agreement signed with Bangladesh government and the mediator Beximco Pharmacuticals Limited. The government has administered a total 97,50,663 vaccines till Thursday.
Among them, 58,19,912 people have taken first dose and 39,30,751 persons got the second dose.
In this situation, health authorities asked the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 seeking opinion about administering mix doses of vaccines.
Dr. Robed Amin said that several study suggested that mix doses of vaccines could create boosting of immunizations. But, the committee is yet to reply to the query.
Besides, the human health experts said that same vaccine is needed for administering as second dose.
“The acceptable practice is to administer same vaccine in 1st and 2nd dose,” Professor Dr. M. Muzaherul Huq, former Advisor of the World Health Organisation told The New Nation.
He said, among the people of the country who had taken 1st dose of AstraZeneca they should wait for the same for their 2nd dose.
“They can delay for the 2nd dose up to10 weeks as usual practice. Hope by then it can be made available from some sources. The government can try from USA, UK and other countries,” he said.
