Health minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday said the booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine will work against the newly emerged variant Omicron, reports UNB.
“We’ve information that Omicron can largely be prevented by taking booster doses,” he said while inaugurating the trial administration of booster doses at Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS) in Mohakhali in the morning.
As the government has enough stock of vaccines, the decision to administer the third booster dose has been taken, said Maleque.
“Anyone who has taken the first two doses of any Covid-19 vaccines is eligible to receive the Pfizer booster shot,” he said.
Above 60 senior citizens, patients with comorbidities and frontliners will get the booster shots on a priority basis, the minister said.
Zahid Maleque further said, “As per our plan to bring 70 per cent of the population under vaccination, we need to vaccinate 120 million people by April, 2020.”
Already, Maleque said, 110 million people have been vaccinated in the country comprising the two doses.
“Currently, we’ve a stock of 46.3 million Covid-19 vaccines and will raise 20 million more by next month. With another 90 million doses coming early next year, we’ll hopefully be able to reach our vaccination goal by April,” said the minister.
Regarding the registration in Surokkha app, he said the app has not yet been updated to register for booster shots but people can receive it by showing their vaccine cards.
Maleque said Bangladesh is way ahead of many countries in administering booster doses.
Due to providing Covid-19 vaccines in time, the country is safe as the daily fatalities from the virus remained within one digit and the case positivity rate on Saturday dropped below one per cent, he said.
“This is a very rare incident for such a populous country like ours,” the minister said.
Precaution
“Initially, the booster dose will be administered on a low scale as a precaution. After observing the effects of the vaccine for a few days, it’ll be rolled out for others,” Abu Hossain Md Mainul Ahsan, the civil surgeon of Dhaka district, told journalists on Saturday in a virtual briefing.
Besides, doctors, nurses and health workers will get the dose, while senior citizens will get it in the next phase, keeping their comorbidities in mind.” said the civil surgeon.
