AstraZeneca Plc said on Tuesday it is working with Oxford University to produce a vaccine for the Omicron coronavirus variant, joining other

Japan has provided 704,010 more doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to Bangladesh, bringing the total number of vaccines from the east Asian country to 4.5 million.

Israel announced yesterday that it will offer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to people older than 60, amid concern about the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

People aged 60 years and above, and the frontliners can now take booster shots of Covid-19 vaccines by showing vaccine cards, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said yesterday.

Administering Covid-19 vaccine booster dose will begin across the country after updating the registration app “Surokkha”, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said today.

The government is procuring around 20 million Covid-19 vaccine doses from China, using funds given by the Asian Development Bank, under bilateral arrangements.

Moderna Inc said on Monday that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine appeared to be protective against the fast-spreading Omicron variant in laboratory testing and that the current version of the vaccine would continue to be Moderna’s "first line of defense against Omicron."

The campaign for Covid-19 booster doses started in the country yesterday with vaccinating Runu Veronica Costa, a senior nurse at Kurmitola General Hospital.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque today said the booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine will work against the newly emerged variant Omicron.

The United States government has contributed 1.78 million doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to Bangladesh through the COVAX facility. 

Bangladesh today received 1,197,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines from France under the COVAX facility.

The campaign for Covid-19 booster doses started in Bangladesh today with vaccinating Runu Veronica Costa, a senior nurse of Kurmitola General Hospital who had received the first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine in Bangladesh back in January.

Bangladesh’s immediate challenge is accelerating the Covid-19 vaccination programme to cover the targeted 80 percent of the population, said a World Bank official.

The country would begin a campaign for Covid-19 booster doses at Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons today.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque today said the Covid-19 booster dose campaign will begin on trial at the Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS) in the capital’s Mohakhali tomorrow.

British biomedical firm ViraCorp has joined forces with leading Bangladeshi pharmaceutical company Incepta to develop needle-free Covid-19 vaccine, which uses state-of-the-art intra-nasal technology.

Covid-19 booster jabs will be administered on trial basis from tomorrow, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said yesterday.

A consignment of 704,010 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in Japan is scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on December 21.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque said the Covid-19 experimental booster dose would be administered from Sunday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended Americans choose to receive one of two other authorised COVID-19 vaccines over Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) shot, due to rare but sometimes fatal cases of blood-clotting.