Vaccine only remedy for eradication of COVID-19: Maleque

Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque on Tuesday said vaccine is the only remedy to eradicate COVID-19 pandemic from the country.

“We have been able to free the country from various diseases including polio and plague through conducting massive immunization campaign…. Like previous successes of immunization drive, we can contain the spread of coronavirus in Bangladesh through injecting vaccines into human body,” he said, an official release said.

The minister told a discussion marking the World NTD (Neglected Tropical Diseases) Day in a city hotel.

Secretary of Health Service Division Abdul Mannan, Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, President of Bangladesh Medical Association Dr. Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin, President of Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad Dr Iqbal Arsenal, Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Bardan Jung Rana, among others, addressed the discussion with Line Director of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Unit Dr Nazmul Islam in the chair.

“A section of people are spreading rumour over COVID-19 vaccine… but people received COVID-19 vaccines spontaneously ignoring their rumours,” the health minister said adding all sorts of rumours have been proved false as all vaccine receivers are well.

He said 1.7 crore people are infected by neglected tropical diseases in the world. Twenty diseases have been identified as neglected tropical diseases, Maleque said, adding Bangladesh has been able to eradicate 13 NCDs and the remaining diseases are on the verge of eradication.

The countrywide vaccination drive is set to begin on February 7, the health ministry sources said.

Bangladesh received its first ever COVID-19 vaccine consignment on January 21 (Thursday) as India sent 20 lakh doses of vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca as gift.

The first consignment of COVID-19 50 lakh Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines purchased by the government landed in Dhaka on January 25.