DHAKA, Bangladesh — The government in Bangladesh has started training up to 40,000 healthcare workers and volunteers for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.

Shamsul Haque of the government’s Directorate of Health Services said Wednesday initially 5 million doses would be administered among 2.5 million people. Authorities say the country would get the first consignment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine by Jan. 25 through India’s Serum Institute. The vaccination drive is expected to start from the first week of February.

Bangladesh has primarily targeted Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines while it is also exploring options for buying the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The World Health Organization and global alliance GAVI have offered Bangladesh about 400,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine but the country lacks the super-cold storage that vaccine needs. Bangladesh has reported 7,833 deaths in the pandemic.