2nd dose vaccine to be given after 8 weeks
The decision of administering second dose of Covid-19 vaccine has been changed. The second shot will now be given two months after the first dose instead of previously planned one month.
Prof ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of the health directorate (DGHS), informed this on Monday.
“Those have already been vaccinated and given the next date for second jab, will be informed about the fresh date through SMS,” he said.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and IGP Benazir Ahmed have been vaccinated on Monday, the eighth day of vaccination.
bdnews24.com adds : Oxford University and AstraZeneca’s vaccine showed in a study it had 76 percent efficacy against symptomatic infection for three months after a single dose, which increased if the second shot is delayed, Reuters reported earlier in February.
The finding backed Britain’s decision to extend the interval between initial and booster doses of the shot to 12 weeks. AstraZeneca said eight to 12 weeks between doses seems to be the “sweet spot” for efficacy.
Bangladesh launched the inoculation drive last month and held a dry run initially, in which over 500 people were given the Oxford vaccine doses manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
The authorities observed the participants for over a week to check side effects before kicking off the mass immunisation following WHO recommendation as the trials of the vaccine were not held in Bangladesh.
Initially, the government had planned to administer the first doses to six million people in the first month and give them the booster shot after a month when more doses arrive.
But uncertainties over the arrival of vaccine doses forced the government to change the plan. It decided to give the first doses to 3.5 million people in the first them and keep their second doses in reserve so that a delay in getting doses cannot hamper the inoculation drive.
Khurshid had said at the time that the previous plan would be restored if the second doses had arrived as per schedule.
“It’s an ongoing process because no one has experience about this new vaccine. There will be various types of changes. Nothing is fixed,” he said on Monday.
Bangladesh gave the first doses to more than 900,000 people until Sunday and asked them to take the second dose after a month.
The director general of health services said they would be informed about the changed dates via text message.
