Vaccination centres and manpower must be increased

The uncertainty regarding the coronavirus vaccine has been alleviated to some extent. Although some vaccines arrived and more on the way to Bangladesh, the amount is much less than the demand. The situation is now better.

After getting the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine from Japan, people, who were waiting after the first dose, are now able to get the second dose.

Confusions over the coronavirus vaccine are also over. Crowds at the vaccination centres prove that they are interested in getting vaccinated. However, there is a huge gap between the demand and the capacity.

The number of vaccination centres the government has established is much less than the necessity. For this, crowds are being observed at the vaccination centres.

Prothom Alo published a photo of people standing in a long queue at the gate of Chattogram City Corporation Hospital on its front page. It is not possible to abide by the health guidelines in such a crowded place. There are also allegations that many have returned from vaccination centres without innoculation.

Then, what is the solution? The solution is to set up more vaccination centres, which will need more manpower as well. However, due to some unknown reasons the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has adopted a policy to “go slow”. On 26 July, Prothom Alo ran its lead story under the headline “Vaccinations being administered less than capacity”.

Under the extended vaccination programme, a total of 120,000 permanent vaccination centres have been set up in the cities and the villages of the country. During the special campaigns on measle-rubella, around 20 million children are vaccinated from these centres.

According to the DGHS, Bangladesh has received more than 21.55 million doses of vaccines so far. As of 25 July, more than 12.17 million people have registered for the vaccine. Some 7.5 million people have been administered the first dose and more than 4.3 million people have taken the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Then why has the government set a target to administer 300,000 doses every day? It was possible to reduce the coronavirus transmission rate rapidly in countries where more people were vaccinated, including India. Therefore, there is no logic to slow the vaccination drives.

The DGHS has set a target to vaccinate 360,000 people daily, which is much less than the demand. Its target needs to be increased at least 10 times to bring 80 percent of the country's people under the vaccination programme and at least 3.5 million people would need to be vaccinated daily for that.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered to extend the vaccination programme up to union and ward level on Monday. The quicker the prime minister’s order is implemented, the better the outcome.

The coronavirus transmission rate and subsequent casualties are on the rise even amid the on-going restrictions. In such a situation, there is no alternative to expediting the vaccination drive.