The health authorities are taking preparations to vaccinate as many as 10 million people of the country against Covid-19 within the next week, says Health Minister Zahid Maleque.
He made the remarks on Sunday while addressing an event at the Bangladesh College of Physicians & Surgeons (BCPS) auditorium in Dhaka.
The health minister said that the return of factory workers to their workplaces without maintaining the health protocols might worsen the Covid situation.
As Covid-19 infections keep rising in the country, he urged everyone to abide by health guidelines properly.
The mass vaccination is scheduled to be started at the union level from August 7 and elderly people who do not have NID cards would be able to get vaccinated, said Maleque.
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“We’re planning to bring pregnant women under the vaccination program as well,'' he added.
The minister also mentioned that older people are contracting Covid-19 more than young ones and 80% of them are dying.
Bangladesh launched a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive with Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine on February 7.
The first dose of the vaccination program was suspended on April 26 amid uncertainty over the availability of the vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India as per contract, following a rapid surge in the Covid-19 cases and deaths in the neighboring country.
After a two months’ hiatus, Bangladesh resumed the mass vaccination on July 8 with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.
