Booster dose registration through app halted: Health minister
The government will continue to distribute booster doses through vaccine cards - Health Minister Zahid Maleque
Health Minister Zahid Maleque has said registration for Covid-19 booster dose vaccine through the Surokkha app is now adjourned because the app is being updated.
"The ICT ministry has informed that the Surokkha app will be updated by 28 December; registration (for booster dose) through the app is at a halt for the time being," the minister said at a press briefing after the Covid-19 vaccine booster dose inauguration event Sunday.
The government will continue to distribute booster doses through vaccine cards, he added.
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Earlier in the day, Covid-19 booster dose administration to health workers started on a trial basis in the capital.
The vaccination started around 12:35pm with Kurmitola nurse Runu Veronica Costa, who received the first-ever Covid jab in the country.
Soon after, National Professor Shahla Khatun, DG Health Prof Abul Bashar Khurshid Alam and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen received their jabs, followed by Law Minister Anisul Haque.
Booster doses for the Covid-19 vaccine will be administered to the frontline workers and senior citizens, who received their second dose at least nine months ago.
"We are very happy to start the booster dose administration programme. We have been vaccinating different categories of people, including school students. Bangladesh is in a much better position because of vaccination," said the health minister during the briefing.
He noted the country will receive 2 crore more doses of Pfizer vaccine next month while regular vaccination activities will continue alongside distributing booster doses.
Earlier, the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 recommended booster shots to citizens above 60 and front liners.
The senior citizens and front liners who got the two doses of vaccine six months ago should get preference in receiving the booster dose, the NTAC recommended at a meeting.
It also suggested taking steps to limit public gatherings, meetings, and rallies to contain the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Last Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina instructed health officials to make preparations to administer Covid vaccine booster doses, or third doses, amid the emergence of the 'Omicron' variant in numerous countries of the world.
The PM instructed this at a cabinet meeting over the omicron situation.
After Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Covid-19 vaccination programme in Bangladesh on 27 January, the health ministry rolled out the inoculation drive at five government hospitals in Dhaka on 28 January.
