Staff Reporter :
Administering the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine will remain suspend in Bangladesh starting from today (Monday), until further notice.
Directorate General of Health Service issued a circular in this regard on Sunday.
The notice was signed by Dr Md Shamsul Haque, secretary general of Covid-19 Vaccine Management Taskforce Committee.
DGHS asked the civil surgeons of all the districts, the chief health officers of all the city corporations, and the upaizla health and family planning officers of all the upazilas to take necessary steps in this regard.
The first dose of the covid vaccination has apparently been suspended amid uncertainty over the availability of vaccine doses from Serum Institute of India as per contract following rapid surge in the virus cases and deaths in neighbouring India.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd for 30 million doses of the vaccine.
Bangladesh has received 7 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced by Serum Institute of India through its contract. Bangladesh also received 3.3 million doses of vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift.
At the current rate of use, the government’s stock of Covid-19 vaccine doses could run out within two weeks.
The current stock could be administered until the first week of May. The vaccination drive began in Bangladesh on Feb 7.
According to the DGHS, 7.75 million doses have been used up as of Apr 22, which means Bangladesh is left with only 2.45 million vials.
Although Foreign Minister AK Momen earlier assured people that there will be adequate doses of the vaccine but a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the vaccine doses uncertain.
In the mid-April, the pandemic has suddenly turned India into a Covid vaccine importer from a mass exporter.
