Dhaka: Bangladesh has begun its first nationwide vaccination drive against cholera as the country joined the global effort to eliminate the endemic disease that infects thousands of people each year.

As part of the national vaccination programme, the health department chose six high cholera-prone areas of capital Dhaka to administer the first doses of the oral vaccine to 1.2 million people starting from Wednesday to February 25, reports Efe news.

The second dose will be administered to the recipients of the vaccine a month later.

"This is the first time we have taken such a vaccination program. We will administer oral cholera vaccine to all people of the country in phases," said Shahnila Ferdous, the health services director for communicable disease.

Shahnila said it was the first World Health Organization's (WHO) pre-qualified cholera vaccine that was not available from any private sources.