Inoculation with Pfizer jabs begins in 3 hospitals
The vaccines will only be given to people who have registered at these three facilities.
The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is being administered at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Sheikh Russel Gastroliver Institute & Hospital, and Kurmitola General Hospital in the capital from today morning.
The Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Prof Dr Md Sharfuddin Ahmed inaugurated the vaccination programme at the university's convention centre at 9:45 am.
At the same time, Faruk Ahmed, Director, Sheikh Russel Gastroliver Institute & Hospital and Brigadier General Jamil Ahmed, Director, Kurmitola General Hospital inaugurated the vaccination programme at their respective centres.
The vaccination programme will continue till 3 pm today.
"Each of these hospitals will vaccinate 120 individuals during the initial phase of the inoculation effort, after which they will be observed for the next seven to 10 days" Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the Vaccine Deployment Committee under the DGHS, said in the daily Covid bulletin on Sunday.
The vaccines will only be given to people who have registered at these three facilities.
On 27 May, the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) approved the Pfizer mRNA Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in Bangladesh, removing all legal barriers to the import and use of this vaccine.
On 31 May, a consignment of 1,00,620 doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine reached Dhaka via the international vaccine alliance Gavi under its worldwide vaccination initiative of Covax.
Pfizer has been approved as the fourth vaccine to be used in the country. Earlier, the Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield, Russia's Sputnik-V, and China's Sinopharm vaccines got emergency use authorisation (EUA) in Bangladesh.
According to the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), the vaccine developed by Pfizer is a two-dose one, the second dose of which will be given three weeks after the first dose.
