DHAKA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh has got about 75 percent of its total population vaccinated against the COVID-19 pandemic, local media have reported.
"We've been able to vaccinate about 98 percent people of the targeted population against COVID-19 in the country, which is about 75 percent of the total population," Bangladeshi Health Minister Zahid Maleque was quoted as saying by the country's leading private sector news service provider UNB on Wednesday.
According to the minister, thanks to the mass vaccination efforts and as a result a continuous downtrend in COVID-19 infections, the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival can be celebrated now in full swing in the South Asian country.
Bangladesh launched its COVID-19 vaccination program in January last year to contain the pandemic. The government halted administering first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine after India suddenly banned vaccine exports, and in June 2021 resumed the vaccination drive in parts of the country with the China-donated Sinopharm vaccines.
The COVID-19 vaccines used in Bangladesh have been those developed by AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Moderna, Pfizer, Sinovac, and Johnson & Johnson. ■