Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque said that the government has given the safety to the people providing 30 crore Corona vaccines by free of cost.  “The government vaccinated the people free of cost by spending Taka 40 thousand crores in this purpose from our own fund,” he said while distributing food stuff, clothes and sanitizers among 500 jobless families due to Covid-19 pandemic at Garpara area in Manikganj yesterday. The Health Minister said the vaccination for 5-11 years children has started on Thursday last on a trial basis that was not started in any country in the world.   “We need more four and half crore doses of vaccines for 2,20,00000 children.  We have already received 30 lac doses of vaccine from the World Health Organization (WHO),” he added.  The government has controlled the Covid-19 pandemic successfully with the proper direction from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Health Minister said adding that Bangladesh is in the 5th position in the world to control the Covid-19 pandemic.  Some 29,000 people so far lost their lives due to Corona virus in the country where as over 11,00000 people died in USA and 10,00000 in India. Zahid Maleque said, we are a fuel dependent country and we have to import it from abroad. The prices of fuel have increased all over the world. Some of the countries have no fuel for their people, but we have it, he said.  Citing the instance of Sri Lanka, the Minister said there is no fuel, electricity, fertilizers and food.  Some of the countries including the USA and Europe adopted rationing system and raised the bank interest.  The supply of gas and electricity is being controlled for ensuring the supply of fertilizers to the farmers, he added. Presided over by Manikganj District Awami League President Advocate Golam Mohiuddin, the function was addressed, among others by Deputy Commissioner of Manikganj Muhammad Abdul Latif, Police Super (SP) M Golam Azad Khan, Mayor of Manikganj Municipality Md.  Ramjan Ali, District Awami League Joint Secretary AFM Sultanul Azam Khan Apel, Manikganj Sadar Upazila Awami League President Israfil Hossain and General Secretary Afsar Uddin Sarker. Source: BSS AH

First Indian elected as Regional Director of World Health Organization (WHO)'s South-East Asia Region, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh on Sunday congratulated India for setting a 'new record' by administering two billion vaccine doses within months. In a conversation with ANI today, Dr Singh said, "Congratulations India for administering over 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses. This is yet another evidence of the country's commitment and efforts to minimize the impact of the ongoing pandemic." "COVID-19 vaccines provide protection against severe diseases and deaths for all variants. We must continue our efforts to ensure everyone everywhere benefits from these life-saving vaccines. Let us not forget that the pandemic is still around even after being administered with the vaccine. We must remember to take all precautionary measures to curtail the virus spread," the doctor said. India has administered two billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine so far under the nationwide vaccination drive. "17th July 2022, a day to remember forever," tweeted Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Mansukh Mandaviya. India's COVID-19 vaccination drive touched the 1 billion doses feat in October 2021, in just over nine months since the start of the drive. Now, India has reached another milestone of 2 billion doses. "Witness the history in making! India under PM @NarendraModi Ji's leadership is all set to achieve the 200-crore COVID-19 vaccination mark! Countdown starts," tweeted Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on July 16. In order to ensure protection against COVID-19, Mandaviya launched the "Covid Vaccination Amrit Mahotsav" on July 15 at the COVID Vaccination Camp in Nirman Bhawan. Moments after India crossed the 2 billion Covid vaccine doses milestone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the country has created history again and that India's vaccination drive is unparalleled in scale and speed. He congratulated all Indians on crossing the special figure of 200 crore vaccine doses.   Source: ANI

India on Monday launched booster COVID-19 shots for health care and frontline workers such as doctors and police, as well as elderly people who suffer from chronic ailments like diabetes, as it battles a renewed surge in cases amid the rapid spread of the omicron variant.   With the move, India joins nations including the U.S., the U.K., Russia and the United Arab Emirates that have started administering third vaccine doses.   India's government says the booster is a "precaution" to be given to eligible people nine months after their second shot.   All citizens irrespective of income are eligible for free vaccination at government hospitals across the country. India has approved a total of eight COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, including homegrown Covaxin; Covishield, the local name of the U.K.-developed AstraZeneca vaccine; and Russia's Sputnik V.   "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government is committed to providing additional security cover to health care and frontline workers on priority," Mansukh Mandaviya, India's health minister, tweeted on Monday.     The nation began its inoculation drive in January last year and its cumulative vaccination coverage has crossed 1.51 billion doses, with over 91% of its adult population of 944 million getting at least one shot, while 67% have received double doses. Over 23.8 million teenagers of 74 million aged 15-18 have also received their first dose since vaccinations for the group started on Jan. 3, according to the latest health ministry update.   "Together, we have launched the world's largest vaccination campaign so far," Modi said in an address to the nation on Dec. 25, while announcing the introduction of "precaution" doses. "In the time to come, we have to speed it up and expand it. The efforts of all of us will strengthen the country in this fight against corona."   India is stepping up its vaccination drive in the face of an exponential rise in daily COVID cases since the start of this year following the detection of omicron in the country in December. On Monday, it logged 179,723 new cases, the highest daily count since late May, bringing its total caseload to 35.7 million, with 483,936 fatalities.   The capital city of New Delhi -- which was among the worst hit in the country during the pandemic's second wave in April-May -- imposed a full weekend curfew lasting from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, on top of a nightly curfew that's been enforced since late December.   The city of over 20 million -- which reported 22,751 new cases and 17 deaths on Sunday -- announced earlier this month that over 80% of people who had recently tested positive were infected with omicron. Source: NIKKEL ASIA

A total of 24,90,780 doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine arrived at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka today from the USA under COVAX facilities.   Another 46 lakh shots of Pfizer vaccine will arrive on January 10, the health ministry sources said.    Bangladesh has set a target to collect 31 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine, they said adding, as part of the target for collecting the vaccines, the country is getting adequate quantity of vaccines every month.   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. Source: BSS AH

Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Wednesday handed over 10 lakh doses of ‘Made in India’ vaccines to the representatives of the Myanmar Red Cross Society. Shringla is in Myanmar on a two-day visit, in the first such high-level outreach from India after Myanmar’s military deposed the democratically-elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup on February 1. “Issues relating to humanitarian support to Myanmar, India-Myanmar border concerns,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday.  

The cumulative COVID-19 jab doses administered in India crossed 138 crore on Monday, the Union Health Ministry said. Only on Monday Over 58 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Monday till 7 pm, it said. According to the ministry official, the daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late in the night.The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2. The second phase of COVID-19 vaccination started from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. And then from april 1, the country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years. The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years to be vaccinated from May 1.   Source: Rtv

The third commercial shipment of one million  doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from Serum Institute of India  (SII) arrived around 5.30 pm this afternoon (Oct 9)  at the Hazrat Shahjalal  International Airport in Dhaka.     "Officials of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and Beximco  Pharmaceuticals Ltd received the consignment of one million shots of Oxford- AstraZeneca vaccine at the airport," Dr Md Shamsul Haque, Line Director of  Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health under Directorate General of  Health Services (DGHS) told BSS this evening.     A tripartite procurement agreement was signed among Bangladesh government,  Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Serum Institute of India (SII) in December  last year for 30 million Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.     The health ministry sources said five million or 50 lakh Oxford- AstraZeneca vaccines reached Bangladesh on January 25 under a memorandum of  understanding (MoU) signed on November 5 and a subsequent tripartite  agreement on December 13 among Bangladesh Government, Beximco Pharmaceuticals  Ltd (BPL) and the Serum Institute of India (SII).    On February 22, Bangladesh received the second consignment of COVID-19 20  lakh Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from the SII.    With the third commercial shipment of one million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the total quantity of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has  stood at eight millions.    Till to date, Bangladesh has collected 5,37,19,940 doses of vaccines, the  DGHS sources said. 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. Source: BSS AH

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today (Wednesday) said Dhaka is expecting to get 24 crore doses of different COVID vaccine from various sources by March-April next.  "Most of these 24 crore doses of vaccine will be coming under the COVAX framework," he told reporters after attending the 5th International Conference on Inclusive Business, organised by Dutch-Bangla Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DBCCI) in the capital.  The foreign minister said the arrangement was made following his meeting with World Health Organization (WHO) Director General in Geneva last month.   "We asked for 26 crore of doses, but they approved 24 crore ... for now we are happy with it (24 crore doses)," he said adding that they would try to arrange rest two crore doses of jabs later on.       However, he said, some vaccines would be produced at home as Bangladesh needs 26 crore vaccine doses.  The minister said Bangladesh is on the right track of mass vaccination as 2.22 crore people have already been vaccinated while half of the total 16 crore people of the country are young. Replying a query, the foreign minister said there is no update on vaccine cooperation with Russia due to the Covid-19 situation there.  Source: BSS AH

The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in India has crossed 70 crore, with the last 10 crore doses being given in just 13 days, the fastest so far, the Indian health ministry said on Tuesday. The coronavirus has to be defeated and vaccination is the way to victory, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said. “Soaring higher on Covid-19 vaccination under PM (Prime Minister) @NarendraModi ji’s leadership. 70,00,00,000 vaccine doses administered to date,” he tweeted. Congratulations to all health workers and people for this momentous achievement, he said. India took 85 days to touch 10 crore vaccinations, 45 days to cross the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to reach 30 crore, Mandaviya said. The country took 24 days to reach 40 crore from 30 crore doses and then 20 more days to cross 50 crore vaccinations on August 6. It took 19 more days to go past the 60-crore mark and took only 13 days to reach 70 crore from 60 crore, the fastest so far, he said on Twitter. The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2nd. The next phase of Covid-19 vaccination commenced from March 1st  for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1st . The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1st. Source: The Indian Express BM

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday praised the people of Himachal for not allowing any rumour or disinformation to hamper the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the state and said that country’s rural society is empowering the vaccination drive. Speaking at the interaction session with the healthcare workers and beneficiaries of the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Himachal Pradesh, Modi said: “The people of Himachal did not allow any rumour and any disinformation to hamper the vaccination efforts. Himachal is proof of how the country’s rural society is empowering the world’s largest and fastest vaccination campaign.” Modi said India is vaccinating at the record speed of 12.5 million vaccines per day. This means that the number of vaccinations in India in one day is more than the population of many countries. Recalling the mantra ‘Sabka Prayas’ which Modi mentioned during his Independence Day speech, he said that this success is a manifestation of that. “This is the area which used to be cut off from the rest of the country for months before the Atal Tunnel was built,” said PM Modi, while admiring the state’s efforts to not allow any rumour or disinformation to hamper the vaccination efforts. The Prime Minister also expressed happiness that even in a remote district like Lahaul-Spiti has been a leader in giving 100 per cent first dose. “This is the area which used to be cut off from the rest of the country for months before the Atal Tunnel was built,” he said. “Tourism is also getting the direct benefit of strengthened connectivity, farmers and gardeners who produce fruits and vegetables are also getting it. By using internet connectivity in villages, young talents of Himachal can take their culture and new possibilities of tourism to the country and abroad.” Referring to recently notified Drones rules, the Prime Minister said: “These rules will help in the spheres of many sectors like health and agriculture. This will open doors for new possibilities.” The Prime Minister urged the farmers and gardeners of Himachal to make farming in Himachal organic within the next 25 years. “Slowly we have to free our soil from chemicals,” he said. He said the central government is now going to create a special online platform for women self-help groups. “Through this medium, our sisters will be able to sell their products in the country and the world. They will be able to deliver apple, orange, kinnow, mushroom, tomato, many such products to every nook and corner of the country,” he added. Source: Gulf News BM