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Bangladesh on Sunday began administering booster doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine to health workers on a trial basis in Dhaka.
Inaugurating the campaign at a ceremony in the Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said, “The government has enough vaccine doses in stock, and this drive will be extended across the country in phases.”
Meanwhile, in a virtual briefing, Dhaka district Civil Surgeon Abu Hossain Md Mainul Ahsan said, “The booster doses will initially be administered on a low scale as a cautionary measure. After observing the vaccine’s effects for a few days, it will be rolled out to others.
“Doctors, nurses and health workers will get the jabs, while senior citizens will get it in the next phase due to their comorbidities. Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccines are being used in this phase as it has been approved by the World Health Organization.”
Nurse Runu Veronica Costa, who had received the first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine in Bangladesh, got the first booster dose as well.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, Law Minister Anisul Huq, Health Minister Zahid Maleque, Health directorate chief Dr ABM Khurshid Alam, and a few journalists and religious leaders also received Covid-19 booster jabs on the first day.
On December 11, the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 recommended providing booster jabs to people aged above 60 and front-liners.
The cabinet on December 13 directed the authorities concerned to work on a precise guideline on administering Covid booster doses in the country against the backdrop of rapid transmission of the new Omicron variant.
As the protection offered by the Covid-19 vaccines wanes over time, developed countries have already rolled out a three-dose regimen amid the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Researchers in the United Kingdom recently analysed the potential impact of a Covid booster shot on the Omicron variant and found it could provide around 85 per cent protection against severe illnesses.
