The special mass inoculation campaign against Covid-19, which was launched to celebrate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's birthday, has been extended by three days to Oct 8, health authorities say.
The government launched the vaccination campaign, which distributes the first and second Covid-19 vaccine doses to the unvaccinated, on Sept 28 and it was scheduled to finish on Oct 3, reports bdnews24.com.
The first and second doses of the vaccine will no longer be given after the completion of the campaign. But a special arrangement will be made at designated centres to give second doses to people who received their first doses during the campaign, Dr Ahmedul Kabir, additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, said at a news conference on Monday.
“People who have not yet received their first doses will be vaccinated under the arrangement as well if they can show a logical reason for the delay.”
“The deadline of the campaign has been extended by three days to bring all unvaccinated people under the programme. More than 10 million vaccine doses have been given to people under this campaign since Sept 28. Many among them did not receive their first vaccine doses. But the programme drew a good response. People want to be vaccinated. That’s why the campaign will continue for three more days.”
The extended mass inoculation campaign against Covid-19 will be held on Oct 4, 6 and 8 due to public holidays in between, Kabir added.
In addition to the first and second vaccine doses, third or booster doses will also be administered under the programme.
Bangladesh vaccinated 97 per cent of its eligible population with the first dose, while 90 per cent took the second dose and 41 per cent the booster, according to the DGHS.