Bangladesh has received first shipment of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, with the arrival of 3,36,000 doses on Thursday.

The shipment of vaccine, sent by the United States under the COVAX programme, arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Thursday morning.

"The Johnson & Johnson vaccine arrived in Bangladesh for the first time on Thursday, said Dr Shamsul Huque, chief of the Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS)'s Expanded Programme on Immunization. "They will be stored like the other vaccines."

"A special flight brought 3,36,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine this morning. The vaccine doses have arrived under COVAX programme. Preservation and transportation of this vaccine is easier. There is no problem with temperature control. Though two doses are needed to be injected regarding other vaccines, a single dose of this vaccine needs to be pushed," he added.

The J&J shot is the sixth Covid vaccine to arrive in Bangladesh. The others are the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sinopharm, and Sinovac. These vaccines have all been a part of the government's nationwide immunisation efforts.

BDST: 1805 HRS, JAN 20, 2022
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