Nurse Runu Costa first in Bangladesh to get Covid vaccine

Runu Veronica Costa, a senior nurse at Kurmitola General Hospital in Dhaka, is going to be the first person in Bangladesh to be vaccinated against Covid-19 after the inauguration of vaccination programme at the hospital scheduled for tomorrow.

Reliable sources from Kurmitola General Hospital confirmed the information on Tuesday.

Two other senior nurses of the same hospital—Munni Khantun and Rina Sarker will follow Runu to get injected with Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine doses manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII).

Dr Ahmed Lutfar Mobin, a medical consultant, will become the first physician in the country to get the vaccine dose. Two other physicians will follow him.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to launch the vaccination campaign virtually.

The first consignment containing five million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine purchased by Bangladesh from the Serum Institute of India (SII) arrived in Dhaka on Monday morning, which was then taken straight to Beximco Pharma's warehouse in Tongi, Gazipur for preservation.

The vaccine doses, imported by Beximco Pharmaceuticals, have received clearance from the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) as no issues were observed with them.