Bangladesh not planning to suspend administering AstraZeneca vaccine: health secretary

Bangladesh is not planning to suspend its rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine, despite a number of countries doing so, said Md Abdul Mannan, secretary of the Health Services Division, today.

"Till now, those who took the first dose of the vaccine in the country are all in good health. So Bangladesh has no plans to halt its vaccine drive," he said, before adding: "I don't see why some countries have chosen to suspend its use."

Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, and the Netherlands were joined today by Latvia and Sweden as European countries that have suspended use of the vaccine developed by Oxford University scientists in partnership with British-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca.

The European countries were joined by Indonesia, Thailand, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but by Tuesday, Thailand reversed their decision and planned to go ahead with AstraZeneca vaccines.

It has created a jagged divide across the globe, forcing politicians to assess the health risks of halting the shots at a time when many countries, especially in Europe, are already struggling to overcome logistical hurdles and vaccine hesitancy among their populations, reports AP.