12 lakh to get cholera vaccine in Dhaka

At least 12 lakh people in Dhaka will get two doses of cholera vaccine next month, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said yesterday.

The vaccine will be provided in Mohammadpur, Hazaribagh, Darussalam, Keraniganj, Lalbagh and Adabar areas of the capital tentatively from February 15, said Prof Sanya Tahmina, line director of Communicable Disease Control of DGHS, during a press briefing at Hotel Sonargaon.

Only those aged above one will get the free vaccine, which will make them immune to the virus for three years, the official added.

Annually, one lakh people are affected by cholera in Bangladesh, according to patient data from different hospitals, Sanya revealed.

Among them, nearly 3,500 to 4500 die of the disease each year.

Cholera outbreaks mainly occur twice a year and vaccinations can help control that, she added.

The campaign is funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance -- a public-private global health partnership committed to increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.

Earlier, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) organised a vaccination campaign at Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar between 2017 and 2018.

Between October 2017 and December 2018, 2.2 million doses of oral cholera vaccine were given to the Rohingyas and the host community.

Bangladesh has around 66 million people at risk of cholera, said Tajul Islam Bari, a consultant at the icddr’b told The Daily Star, adding that under the National Cholera Control Plan, the government aims to eradicate cholera from the country by 2030.