The administration of the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to the mass people started on a trial basis Tuesday.

Some seven hundred people will get the fourth jab in seven centres, one hundred in each centre, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The centres are — Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Secretariat Clinic, Mugda Medical College and Hospital, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Kurmitola General Hospital, Government Employee Hospital, and Sheikh Russel National Gastroliver Institute and Hospital.

Earlier, DGHS Additional Director General Dr Ahmedul Kabir said the administration of the fourth dose will be on a trial basis and it will be confined inside Dhaka.

Through a circular issued on December 11, then member-secretary of vaccination deployment committee Dr Shamsul Haque, also a line director of DGHS, ensured that the people aged above 60, 18 years and older with chronic diseases, immune-compromised population, frontline fighters and pregnant women or lactating mothers — who received their third dose at least four months ago — will get the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The Pfizer vaccine will be administered as the fourth shot.

Once the administration finds no negative review, a nationwide administration would be started from January 1 next year.

Earlier, the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 recommended administering the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to contain the spread of the virus, Dr Shamsul Haque informed the media on November 30.

So far, more than 149 million people received the first dose of whom over 126 million people have received the second dose of the Covid vaccine while over 64 million have received the first booster dose till Sunday evening.