AstraZeneca, Moderna recipients to receive Pfizer vaccine to mix-and-match

Those who received AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccines as the first dose of vaccine to prevent Covid-19 will get Pfizer's vaccine as the second and booster doses.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG), the Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

The instruction was given on Sunday in a letter signed by Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment Committee of the DGHS.

Earlier, a vaccine made by the same company was used for the first two doses, and a vaccine from a company different from the one used for the first two doses was given as the booster dose. With the latest instruction, Bangladesh has chosen to mix-and-match vaccines.

Around 2.31 lakh people – who received the Moderna vaccine as the first dose and have been waiting to take a second one – will now get the Pfizer vaccine.

Besides, around 15.49 lakh people who took the AstraZeneca vaccine as a first dose will also get the Pfizer vaccine as their second dose.

One Covid death, 259 cases reported in 24 hours

Bangladesh reported one death and 259 cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours till 8am on Monday. 

The positivity rate was recorded at 4.09% for the same period, testing 6,336 samples across the country. 

So far 29,314 people have died and 2,009,129 tested positive for the virus in Bangladesh since 2020.