DHAKA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A major vaccination campaign to contain the spread of cholera begun Wednesday in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
In the designated immunization centers in parts of Dhaka, the first round of the oral cholera vaccine would be administered from Wednesday to Feb. 25.
The second dose would be administered one month later.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) under the country's Ministry of Health Affairs in a press briefing last month said 1.2 million people in cholera-prone areas of the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka will receive two doses of cholera vaccine.
Sania Tahmina of the DGHS said children aged above one year will get the vaccine free of cost.
The vaccine will make the children immune to the virus for the next three years, she added.
Despite implementation of various programs for eradication of cholera, Tahmina said around 100,000 people are affected by the disease every year in the country.
Millions of Bangladeshi people are still at the risks of getting infected with cholera as three-five people per 1,000 reportedly suffer from the water-borne disease in the country.
