The government has selected four centres in Dhaka to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine after Jun 13, the health minister has said.
The diluents for the frozen Pfizer doses are expected to arrive Monday night and China is likely to send a second batch of 600,000 Sinopharm shots as a gift on Jun 13, Zahid Maleque said.
Bangladesh had earlier received and begun administering 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to students and doctors of medical colleges. The vaccine was also made available to the frontline workers in the fight against the coronavirus.
The minister said the government will give the Pfizer and Sinopharm shots to those who have registered on the Surokkha platform, reports bdnews24.com.
“We are not prioritising special people for the vaccines. Those who have registered for the vaccine will get it as per serial,” said Zahid Maleque.
He also said the government will sign a deal with Sinopharm to purchase 15 million doses. “The vaccination drive will continue once we get the doses.”
The government received 100,620 Pfizer doses under the global COVID vaccine-sharing platform co-led by the World Health Organization on May 31.
The Pfizer vaccine must be stored between -90 degrees Celsius and -60 degrees Celsius. It can also be stored at 2 degrees Celsius to 5 degrees Celsius for five days. At 30 degrees Celsius, the vaccine will be valid for two hours.
The vaccines have come to Bangladesh in a frozen state. They need to be unfrozen by using diluent before being administered.
The health minister was speaking at the launch of the Vitamin A-plus campaign for children aged between six months and five years. The government targets administering the vitamin capsules to 22.2 million children in the campaign that will run until June 25.
