bdnews24.com :
The government is likely to start a COVID vaccine booster drive in seven to 10 days, Health Minister Zahid Maleque has said.
The authorities are waiting for the recommendation of the National Advisory Committee and an update of the online registration platform to begin the campaign, he said at the inauguration of the National Vitamin A Plus Campaign in Dhaka on Saturday.
“We are creating a list. We are hoping to set off work within seven to 10 days.”
The booster doses will be administered to people aged above 60 and the frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19, according to the minister. “The elderly are being administered vaccine boosters in different countries. We have decided to do the same.”
As the protection offered by vaccines wanes over time, the developed countries have rolled out a third dose of the coronavirus shots.
Experts in Bangladesh were against administering boosters before at least 80 percent of the population completed their two-shot inoculation course. About 25 percent of the people in the country have received both shots.
According to the health directorate, as many as 66.28 million people have received at least the first dose, while 42.04 million have completed the course.
Meanwhile, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Director General Prof ABM Khurshid Alam said they are ready to start expanding the vaccination program as soon as the app is updated.
“It may be done this week or next week,” he added.
According to DGHS, 42,043,323 people (25% of the population) were fully inoculated and 66,287,396 people had received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine as of Thursday.
