Special Campaign: Over 66 lakh to get second jab today
More than 66 lakh people, aged 25 and above, will receive their second dose of Covid-19 vaccines in a special countrywide campaign today, officials said yesterday.
Those people received their first dose on September 28 in a special campaign marking the 75th birthday of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
"Only second dose vaccines will be given. And no one will be allowed to get the vaccine by changing the centre [from where the first dose was received]," Dr Shamsul Haque, a director of the DGHS said in an online briefing yesterday.
There will be vaccinations centres up to union-level in rural areas while up to the ward-level in municipality areas.
On the first day of this special campaign last month, a total of 6,625,123 people received their first jabs, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) data.
Besides, around 13 additional people also received jabs on the next day. The DGHS official, however, said nothing about them in yesterday's briefing.
Meanwhile, the DGHS said seven people died from Covid-19 in the 24 hours preceding 8:00am yesterday.
With this, the total number of deaths from the disease reached 27,841.
At least 306 new infections were recorded during the period, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 1,568,563.
The new cases were detected after testing 19,951 individuals' regimens. Yesterday's positivity rate was 1.53 percent and the overall positivity rate was 15.31 percent.
In those 24 hours, at least 288 Covid-19 patients recovered taking the total number of recoveries to 1,532,468.
Of the seven reported dead, three were men and four women.
One of them aged between 21 and 30 years old, two between 41 and 50, one between 51 and 60 years, one between 61 and 70 and two between 71 and 80, added the release.
Meanwhile, the United States will supply more 35 lakh jabs of Pfizer vaccines to Bangladesh, read a press release issued by the US Embassy in Dhaka yesterday.
With this, the total number of vaccines supply to Bangladesh as a gift from the USA will reach 1.5 crore.
"The United States is pleased to donate another 3.5 million Pfizer vaccines to Bangladesh. We have also provided specialized training to hundreds of Bangladeshi health workers to help them safely administer these Pfizer vaccines among children ages 12 and up," said Ambassador Earl Miller.
This delivery of Pfizer vaccines is part of the broader commitment by the United States to lead the global Covid-19 response by providing one billion doses of Pfizer vaccine around the world -- free of charge -- through 2022, according to the press release.
With this vaccine delivery, the total US government Covid-19 assistance to Bangladesh exceeds $121 million.