Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to be administered from tomorrow

The experimental administration of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in the country will commence on Monday (tomorrow).

"After a weeklong observation, the vaccination with Pfizer jabs will begin in a full swing," Dr Shamsul Haque, director of Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) under the DGHS, confirmed the news in the daily Covid bulletin.

On the first day, the vaccine will be administered at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital (BSMMU), Sheikh RaselGastroliver Institute & Hospital and Kurmitola General Hospital.

During the initial run of the inoculation drive, each of these hospitals will vaccinate 120 people who will then be monitored for the next seven days.

Only those registered in these three hospitals will get the vaccine. 

The second phase of the mass Covid-19 vaccination programme across the country also started yesterday with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. 

Earlier 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.

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.

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.