Over 46,000 Take Shot in Second Day of COVID Vaccination Programme in Bangladesh

On the second day of the nationwide COVID 19 vaccination programme, 46500 people took the vaccine shot across Bangladesh on Monday. With this, the total number of people vaccinated over the last two days has crossed 77,600.

Considering lower than the planned number of vaccinations, the government has relaxed the age bar for registering for the vaccine. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the authorities to reduce the minimum age for registering for the Corona vaccine from 55 to 40 to expand the vaccination programme.

She also instructed the authorities to allow people who registered for the vaccine to bring along their father, mother or an elderly person to take the vaccine. She said that the second dose of the vaccine will be provided within one and half months even though some countries like the UK are doing it within 8-12 months.

Prime Minister Hasina called upon the concerned people to take measures to bring the frontline health workers, law enforcement personnel and members of armed forces under vaccination, reports the official news agency. She said that the



vaccinated people should be provided with a card which they can show when required while travelling abroad.

She urged people to continue following health measures like regular hand washing and wearing the mask even after they have taken the corona vaccine.

The vaccination drive is being conducted in 1005 hospitals and health centres across the country including 50 in Dhaka.

Earlier, the government had scaled down the planned inoculation target in the country from 60 lakh per month to 35 lakh due to lukewarm response to the online registration process.

Bangladesh has signed an agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for the purchase of 30 million doses of the Oxford University AstraZeneca vaccine. Out of it, 5 million doses arrived in Bangladesh last month. India also gifted 2 million doses of the vaccine to Bangladesh.

Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) of Bangladesh reported 16 people succumbing to Corona infection on Monday. With this, the death toll went up to  8221 in the country.