Bangladesh suspends 1st dose of Covid vaccination from Monday

Online desk: The government has suspended administering of the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine from April 26.

The Directorate General of Health Services made the announcement on Sunday issuing a notice, signed by Dr Md Shamsul Haque, secretary general of Covid-19 Vaccine Management Taskforce Committee.

“Administering the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine  will remain suspended from April 26 until further notice. Health centres concerned have been requested to take necessary steps in this regard, said the notice.

Directorate General of Health Services disclosed the decision in a press release after India’s Serum Institute had decided not to supply the vaccine as per contract.

Serum so far supplied 70 lakh doses of the vaccines although it was supposed to deliver 50 lakh doses a month since the contract took effect from January.

Bangladesh might face challenges in continuing the mass Covid vaccination programme as the existing vaccine stock might exhaust within two weeks, Directorate General of Health Services officials said.

DGHS director and spokesperson Mohammad Robed Amin told New Age on Thursday that they had a stock of about 27 lakh vaccine doses while they required about two lakh doses each day for carrying out the mass vaccination campaign across the country.