The nationwide Covid-19 mass vaccination campaign was held on Tuesday successfully with a target to inoculate 7.5 million (75 lakh) people on the occasion of prime minister Sheikh Hasina's 75th birthday.
"The mass vaccination campaign started from 9:00am and it continued till 7.30pm tonight (Tuesday)....all relevant organizations were monitoring round-the-clock and we have been able to conduct the vaccination drive smoothly," director general of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) professor Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam told BSS on Tuesday evening.
"We will collect information on countrywide mass vaccination campaign from all designated vaccination booths. The day-long inoculation drive may be extended, if the vaccination target is not fulfilled," he added.
"Nearly 25 million (2.5 crore) people, who got them registered, for receiving Covid-19 vaccines... among the registered people, we targeted to vaccinate 7.5 million (75 lakh) people," he added.
Registration was made mandatory to receive coronavirus vaccines during the day- long vaccination campaign, Alam said, adding, "Roughly five lakh people are being vaccinated daily... meaning nearly 8 million (80 lakh) people may be immunized today."
During the campaign, people received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine and they will be given the second dose of inoculation on 28 October, he added.
The DGHS sources said people aged 25 and above were vaccinated on Tuesday.
As many as 80,000 health workers were engaged with the drive to make it a success, they added.
Bangladesh has been lauded globally to control Covid-19 pandemic as the country has intensified its multiple efforts including vaccination and improving healthcare system to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
As of September 27, a total of 24,880,894 people received first shot and 16,499,866 exhausted the course getting the second dose of the inoculation.
The number of people who got them registered so far is 4,819,503, the DGHS sources said.
According to the health ministry, the government has decided to purchase 165 million (16.5 crore) more Covid-19 vaccines from China and other countries to expedite the countrywide vaccination campaign. Till to date, Bangladesh has collected 51,929,940 doses of vaccines, the DGHS sources said
Bangladesh set a target to vaccinate the country's 80 per cent population by 2022 under an accelerated inoculation campaign, expecting receipt of required Covid-19 jabs within estimated timeline, it added.
Bangladesh has so far approved eight Covid-19 vaccines to control the deadly disease.
The approved Covid-19 vaccines are from Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, CoronaVac, Pfizer, Covishield, Sputnik V, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm.