Covid-19 booster doses will be administered to health workers on trial basis from Sunday, said Dr Abu Hossain Md Mainul Ahsan, the Civil Surgeon of Dhaka district.
“Initially, the booster doses will be administered on a low scale as a caution. After observing the effects of the vaccine for a few days, it’ll be rolled out for others,” Dr Mainul Ahsan told journalists on Saturday in a virtual briefing.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday said the booster doses will be rolled out from the Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS) at city’s Mohakhali from Sunday morning.
Dr Mainul Ahsan said, “Following the health minister’s directive, we’re ready to start administering the shots from tomorrow. There’ll be no shortage of jabs.”
Dr Ahsan went on saying, “Initially, doctors, nurses and health workers will get the doses, and senior citizens will get it in next phase, keeping their comorbidities in mind.” said the Civil Surgeon.
He said the announcement to administer the Covid-19 booster dose depends on the capability and the vaccine supply.
As the country’s vaccine supply reached the maximum level, Dr Ahsan said, the government has now decided to administer a third booster dose followed by the first and second ones.
On December 13, the Cabinet directed the authorities concerned, particularly the Health Minister and the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19, to work on a precise guideline over the campaign of booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Bangladesh.
Earlier, the Prime Minister instructed the technical committee to work on a precise guideline on when the booster dose campaign needs to be started.
On December 12, the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 recommended booster shots for the citizens above 60 and frontliners.
The senior citizens and frontliners who got the two doses of vaccine six months ago will get the booster dose, the NTAC recommended at a meeting. It also suggested all to take steps to limit public gatherings, meetings and rallies to contain the spread of Omicron.
On December 9, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Omicron is now present in 57 countries and asked all countries to stay alert about the new variant.
A WHO panel named the Coronavirus variant ‘Omicron’ and classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern, the same category that includes the predominant delta variant, which is still a scourge driving higher cases of sickness and death in Europe and parts of the USA.
Amid the growing concern over the new ‘Omicron’ variant of coronavirus, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) suggested the implementation of 15 instructions to prevent the spread of the new variant and urged all concerned to take measures to enforce the instructions.
