Bangladesh starts administering Pfizer jabs

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Bangladesh on Thursday started administering doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with expatriate workers first in line.

Bangladesh received 100,620 doses of the vaccine under the COVAX facility, an initiative backed by the World Health Organization that aims to ensure equitable provision of COVID-19 vaccines.

China’s Sinopharm vaccine is also being administered in the country as Beijing donated some 600,000 doses in mid-June and 500,000 earlier in May.

Since the start of the vaccination campaign on Feb. 7, over 10 million shots have been given in Bangladesh, according to health authorities.

A strict lockdown has been enforced in Bangladesh starting Thursday, with people confined to their homes until at least July 7.

The country has recorded nearly 914,000 virus cases so far, including a death toll of over 14,500, according to official data.