Health Minister Zahid Maleque has said another 5.4 million doses of coronavirus vaccine will arrive in Bangladesh by August 15,
"By Aug 15, we'll receive 3.4 million of the vaccines from COVAX and one million vaccine doses we bought from China as well. China will also send us one million doses as a gift," Maleque told reporters following a cabinet meeting on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
"Hopefully we'll receive 5.4 million doses by Aug 15, and it'll enable us to maintain the pace of the vaccination programme we have at the moment. China will send us 5 million more doses this month."
Reporters questioned Maleque about many reports that people have registered for the vaccine but have not received it or even an SMS confirming the date.
"The authorities do not send a message if there are no vaccines in stock. They only send text messages when vaccine doses are available. I can't give the exact number but we have some vaccine doses in stock right now," he said.
Bangladesh rolled out a mass immunisation programme against the coronavirus on Saturday. The government plans to vaccinate 600 people from each union during this campaign, the minister said.
"But we found many more people were coming to be vaccinated. Those centres that had extra shots administered them already. In some places, vaccination was done the following day due to adverse weather. People in the remote areas also received them a little bit later."
Initially, the people in rural areas were reluctant to take vaccines but now their ideas have changed, the minister said. "Now they're interested in getting the vaccine. The vaccination drive at the municipal wards will continue."
"As far as we know, more than 3 million people took the jab outside the normal programme. The death rate is higher for the elderly in rural areas so we're trying to vaccinate more of them. We'll resume this programme every time we have enough vaccine doses.”
The government has approved the purchase of 60 million COVID vaccine doses from China, as COVAX cannot supply large batches in one go.
"China also approved the purchase and we are signing the contract soon," Maleque said.
He hoped the vaccination programme would be further strengthened once the new doses arrive.
The minister informed that China will send 10-15 million vaccine doses by September, 23 million by October and 23 million by November.
"Also, we'll get more vaccines from COVAX and 6 million Pfizer vaccine as well. We hope to receive the vaccines we bought from India soon, though they haven't confirmed a date yet."
"We are in dire need of the vaccine right now. Vaccines can protect people, but not completely. Therefore, they must wear a mask and maintain social distancing. It takes time to form antibodies after getting the shot. The second dose or a booster dose is needed too."
"We spoke about 210 million vaccine doses, including 30 million from China. Apart from those 30 million, another 40 million have now been added. We're trying to increase our stock as those who committed already may not be able to keep their word. We're trying to get the vaccine from anywhere we see a better prospect," Maleque said.
Bangladesh will get Johnson & Johnson vaccines by the middle of next year, but the country could get these doses from China, if they send it earlier, he said.
"All we want is to vaccinate our people as soon as possible."