Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain today said the government is procuring vaccines on a large scale to strengthen the country’s immunisation programme.
He made the remark while receiving 1.5 million doses of measles-rubella (MR) vaccine and 0.9 million doses of tetanus and diphtheria (TD) vaccine (90,000 vials), supplied through UNICEF, at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
The vaccines arrived on a regular Qatar Airways flight, according to a health ministry press release.
At a press briefing, the minister said the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) had been affected by certain decisions of the previous government, but the current administration is now giving it the highest priority.
He said the decision to procure vaccines through open tender has been cancelled, and instead, the government has opted for direct procurement through Unicef, which is being implemented swiftly.
He said the government has already paid US$83.6 million to Unicef, under which around 95 million doses of 10 types of vaccines will be supplied. On May 3, more than 1.5 million doses of IPV vaccine arrived in the first shipment. Today, 1.5 million doses of MR vaccine and 0.9 million doses of TD vaccine arrived, he said.
The minister further said that by May 10, around 180 million doses of MR, TD, BCG, TCV, oral polio vaccine (OPV), and pentavalent vaccine are expected to arrive. The full supply is planned to be completed by September.
He said a nationwide “Measles-Rubella Vaccination Campaign 2026” is currently underway to control the measles outbreak. As of May 5, more than 1.68 crore children have been vaccinated, covering 93 percent of the total target.
He expressed hope that full coverage would be achieved soon.
The minister also said there is an adequate stock of TCV and HPV vaccines in the country.
He expressed optimism that with the new supplies, there would be no vaccine shortage for the next eight to 12 months.
SM Ziauddin Hyder, prime minister’s special assistant, Health Secretary Quamruzzaman Chowdhury, Unicef Bangladesh Representative Rana Flowers, among others, were present at the programme.
