The Cabinet on Monday directed the authorities concerned, particularly the Health Minister and the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19, to work on a precise guideline over the campaign of booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Bangladesh.
The directive came from a virtual meeting of the Cabinet in the wake of the rapidly transmissible variant ‘Omicron’ in different parts of the world.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting, joining it from her official residence Ganobhaban.
The other ministers and officials concerned were connected from the Bangladesh Secretariat.
“The technical committee and the Health Minister were instructed so that they remain ready for whether the booster dose would be given free or on payment and place a guideline following discussions,” said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam while briefing reporters at the Secretariat after the meeting.
He said the Cabinet asked all to remain careful about Omicron as the new Covid-19 strain is spreading rapidly in the world.
“The Prime Minister repeatedly directed that we’ve to be very careful,” said the Cabinet Secretary.
He said the PM also instructed earlier the technical committee to work on a precise guideline over when the booster dose campaign needs to be started.
Since the world renowned scientists recommended booster doses to stay safe from Covid-19, the meeting asked all to keep focus on how the booster doses can be rolled out in Bangladesh, he said.
Mentioning that two people were detected with Omicron in Bangladesh, Anwarul Islam said both of them are men of Bangladesh Cricket Board, who entered the bio-secure bubble at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon, directly from the Airport.
The duo did not come in close contact with anyone at the airport and their family members and any others, he said.
He said he has got a complete protocol over Omicron from his close friends and his spouse who are senior consultants in South Africa.
In the protocol, they said the variant spreads rapidly and its effect is not as dangerous as that of Delta strain, said the Cabinet Secretary.
