Bangladesh government plans to vaccinate 80pc people by April

The government plans to complete 80 per cent of its vaccination target by April next year, Health Secretary Lokman Hossain Mia said on Sunday.

Addressing a programme to mark handover of vaccines by three countries to Bangladesh in the city, Mr Lokman said by December this year, 59 per cent of the targeted population will be brought under the Covid-19 inoculation coverage.

Bangladesh on the day received 1.2 million AstraZaneca vaccine doses from three European countries - Sweden, Switzerland and Norway- under the Covax facility.

Thanking the countries on behalf of the government, Mr Lokman expressed the hope that with support from the international community Bangladesh will become successful in combating the Covid-19 pandemic.

Alexandra Berg Von Linde, Ambassador of Sweden in Dhaka, Essen Rikter Svendson, Ambassador of Norway, and Nathalie Chuarel, Ambassador of Switzerland, also spoke on the occasion.

They praised Bangladesh's Covid management efforts and assured their continuous support in this regard.

In their joint statement, the Ambassadors of Sweden, Switzerland and Norway highlighted the importance of an effective multilateral response to the global pandemic and reiterated their countries' commitment to the rapid and equal global access to safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines.

Living up to their global engagement, the three countries have each pledged financial support to the multilateral "Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator" (ACT-A) initiative and have donated vaccines under its Covax facility.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, they have also bilaterally contributed to various frontline initiatives across Bangladesh, reaching the most vulnerable and remote communities.

During the event, the Ambassadors have welcomed the decision of Covax to allocate and deliver over 1.2 million AstraZeneca Covid vaccines to Bangladesh.

The delivery contains 535,200 doses donated by Sweden, 446,000 by Switzerland and 237,600 by Norway under the Covax facility. The Ambassadors also thanked Unicef for organising the shipment and handover of the vaccines to the Bangladesh government.