The countrywide mass vaccination programme up to the union level is starting from next Saturday. The government has set a target to administer 3.2 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine on the first day. The health workers have been trained for the purpose.
The number of vaccination centres to be set up and the location of the centres has been fixed. Directives have already been given at the field level in this regard.
An online meeting was held from 4.00pm to 6.00pm on Wednesday regarding the preparations for the vaccination programme.
The meeting was attended by the deputy commissioners (DC), civil surgeons, superintendents of police (SP), upazila nirbahi officers (UNO), upazila health and family planning officers and other concerned persons from each district.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has said in each union, regular vaccines will be given two days a week and coronavirus vaccines would be administered three days a week.
Member secretary of the Covid-19 Vaccine Management Task Force Committee, Md Shamsul Haque told Prothom Alo that a target has been set to vaccinate about 3,230,600 people a day. A total of 81,165 health workers and volunteers will be engaged in this mass vaccination drive across the country.
Around 300,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered daily for the last few days. There will be around 14,000 vaccine centres at the union level.
Earlier on 1 August, health minister Zahed Maleque said, “The government wants to administer 10 million doses of vaccine in a week. The government has around 12.5 million doses of vaccine at the moment. Some 10 million more doses would come by this month.”
Bangladesh received the first consignment of the Covid vaccine on 21 January. Later, the mass vaccination drive started on 7 February.
However, the vaccination drive was interrupted as India banned exportation of vaccines. However, due to the arrival of vaccines from China, Japan, the US and the UK, the mass vaccination drive has gained momentum again. Overall, Bangladesh has received around 25.65m doses of Covid vaccines from India, the US, the UK, China and Japan.
A total of 10,009,953 people have got the first dose of vaccine while some 4,416,131 have administered both doses of the vaccine. The government is moving ahead with a plan to vaccinate 80 per cent of the country’s total population. Another 260 million doses of vaccine would be needed for that.
The coronavirus situation in the country is going through the worst phase in the last 16 months. Countrywide restrictions are in effect to contain the spread of the virus.
However, the government wants to ease the restrictions from 11 August and to emphasise more on wearing masks and getting vaccinated. The government also wants to re-open public transport, offices and shops. Right at this time, the vaccination drive up to the union level is starting.
Number of vaccine centres in different places
According to the concerned persons, there would be a vaccine centre for every three wards in a union. Each centre will have three booths. Besides, a vaccine centre would be set up in every ward in pourashava (municipality) area.
Earlier on 28 July, a letter was issued on behalf of the Extended Programme on Immunisation (EPI) directing the persons concerned to plan for the implementation of the vaccination programme. It said people would be vaccinated from 9.00am to 3.00pm every day at the vaccine centres. The vaccinators and other health workers would stay for an hour after administering the last dose for the day. Only people aged 18 or above would be vaccinated. Till 12.00pm, only elderly persons and women would be inoculated. They would be prioritised even if they come later. Before vaccinating, vaccine recipient details need to be documented. The recipients would be provided with a vaccine card after registration. The vaccine recipients must carry this card on the scheduled date to get the second dose.
The vaccinators would keep a record of all the necessary vaccine related information, including online registration, which must be updated before administering the second dose.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, Fazlur Rahman, civil surgeon of Panchagarh, said the initial plan was to conduct the inoculation programme three days a week. Now, it would be conducted one or two days a week in compliance with the availability of the vaccine.
The field level preparation
Prothom Alo contacted several public representatives, local administration and health officials regarding the preparation for the vaccination drive. Some of them are all set for the vaccination drive while some are planning to finish the preparations by Thursday or Friday.
Deputy commissioner of Sherpur, Md Mominur Rashid told Prothom Alo that a total of 200 people would be vaccinated from each ward. A minimum of 36,000 people in the district would be vaccinated on the first day.
The vaccination drive at the union level is starting amidst the monsoon. There is a fear among the public health experts whether people would be interested enough to go to vaccine centres considering the weather at this time of the year.
Prothom Alo spoke to 10 union parishad (UP) chairmen regarding their preparations to make the mass vaccination week a success. They said they have received the instructions of the government regarding vaccine administration. Local level meetings have been arranged as well.
Md Enamul Haque Biswas, chairman of Pakshi union parishad in Ishwardi upazila of Pabna, said people in his union would be vaccinated on 7, 9 and 10 August. According to the government directives, only the people, who would register, would be vaccinated. Awareness campaign is being conducted Thursday to inform people about this.
Mahmudul Hasan, health and family planning officer of Zajira upazila of Shariatpur, said people would be vaccinated in two days in his upazila.
Vaccines for the RMG workers
The preliminary process of collecting the list of the workers in the export-oriented garment and textile sector for vaccination has started. However, the date to start the inoculation drive for the workers is yet to be fixed. There are about 4 million workers in the apparel sector.
After getting the green signal from the health ministry, the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BKMEA) and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) have officially asked its member factories to send the list of the workers.
On the other hand, the leaders of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said that text messages have been sent to send the list of the workers to the civil surgeon’s office in concerned districts.
The leaders of BGMEA, BKMEA and BTMA said the workers would be vaccinated at the factories under the supervision of the civil surgeon’s office. Physicians and nurses appointed in the factories would help in this regard.
BGMEA vice-president Shahidullah Azim said, “Civil surgeon of Gazipur has told us that vaccine administration will start after 11 August. Physicians and nurses from our factory will help administer the vaccine.”
Letter to vaccinate the shop owners-employees
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Shop Owners’ Association has demanded that shop owners and employees to be vaccinated under special arrangement.
President of Bangladesh Shop Owners Association, Helal Uddin told Prothom Alo that nobody has contacted them regarding the vaccination of the shop owners and employees. Therefore, they issued a letter addressing prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday. In the letter, they requested the prime minister to ensure 2 to 2.5 million shop owners and employees vaccinated within 10 August.
There were detailed discussions regarding the administration of vaccines at the union and ward level during the inter-ministerial meeting held on Tuesday. After the meeting, liberation war affairs minister AKM Mozammel Haque told the journalists that elderly persons would be prioritised for vaccination. At the same time, transport workers have been advised to take vaccines from respective wards.