9.38pc Bangladeshis to come under vaccination by August

The country is going to vaccinate 1.59 crore people by next month which is 9.38 per cent of its total population if all consignments of 1.60 crore jabs arrive from the manufacturing countries as per the agreements.
To vaccinate the population Bangladesh has received 1.59 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines including 1.02 crore AstraZeneca shots from India, 31 lakh from China, 25 lakh Moderna and 1 lakh and 600 Pfizer vaccines from USA while another 1.60 crore jabs are due next month, said officials.
According to Health Minister Zahid Maleque, of the 1.60 crore jabs, Bangladesh would get 60 lakh doses under the Covax facility while Sinopharm will provide 50 lakh under an agreement and 10 lakh as a gift.
Nearly 30 lakh AstraZeneca jabs from Japan and another 10 lakh such shots are due to arrive from EU within the next month, added the minister.
According to the estimate of health department, the total 3.19 crore doses of vaccines would cover 1.59 crore people with double shots, suggesting that 9.38 per cent of total 17 crore population will be vaccinated by next month.
Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Director Shamsul Haque said so far nearly 1 crore and 4 lakh vaccines have been rolled out since the country went on mass vaccination on February 7.
The member secretary of the Vaccine Deployment Committee said the government has planned to inoculate 80 per cent of its entire population – some 13 crore and 60 lakh people requiring 27 crore doses.
The amount of vaccine might increase or decrease in the wake of untoward incidents, if any, occurring anywhere in the world, said Robed Amin, spokesperson of the department of health.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told The Business Post on Tuesday 86 lakh doses from five sources including China and Japan are now ready for shipment to Bangladesh.
“We have a number of sources to procure a plenty of vaccines,” he said, adding that Bangladesh will receive vaccine from Russia as all formalities have almost been completed.
Momen, however, did not disclose how many jabs will come from Russia.
“The country is not depending on a single source, but on multiple sources while China and Russia proposed vaccine co-production to Bangladesh which will begin shortly,” Momen said.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare last month signed an agreement with Sinopharm for 1.50 crore jabs.
Of the total, 20 lakh doses were delivered on July 3 while the rest will be delivered in phases. After the Serum Institute of India suspended vaccine shipment, Bangladesh faced vaccine crisis, thereby suspending mass inoculation.
The mass registration for vaccination remained suspended since May 5 in the wake of vaccine shortage.
However, it resumed on July 7 after 4.5 lakh jabs of Moderna and Sinopharm reached the country on July 3 and 4.
On February 7, mass vaccination got underway among people aged above 40, which was later brought down to 35 years of age to quality for the jab.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday said the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase approved a proposal to buy 1.5 core Covid-19 doses from Sinopharm.
Without revealing the price, he said these jabs are being purchased at a low price compared to the previous price.
“If you ask me about the price, we may face problems … for technical reasons, we cannot reveal the detail. I believe you will understand the situation,” he told reporters but declined to say when the doses will reach Bangladesh.
DGHS Director Shamsul Haque said if the government wants to vaccinate all above 35 years of age, it will need to vaccinate 6.5 crore people.
“We have set the age bar just to facilitate vaccination in phases. Our ultimate target is to jab 80 per cent of total population,” added the health expert.
The country has been operating 1,000 centres across the country for administering vaccines with a daily capacity of jabbing 3 lakh people.
Under the Covax facility, Bangladesh will get 6.60 crore doses of vaccine free of cost for 20 per cent of its total population.
In November 2020, an agreement was signed with the Serum Institute of India for 3 crore AstraZeneca shots.
After shipping 50 lakh doses in January and 20 lakh in February, Serum suspended vaccine shipment as Covid situation deteriorated in India.
Since the first shipment, Bangladesh received 1 crore and 59 lakh doses of Covid jabs from different sources including 43 lakh as a gift from India and China while 26 lakh free of cost from the Covax facility, a global vaccine alliance.