Bangladesh set to vaccinate 10m people Saturday

A health official inoculates a sex worker with the dose of Sinopharm vaccine against the Covid-19 during a special vaccination drive at Daulatdia on 18 August 2021.AFP

Bangladesh has set a target to vaccinate 10 million with COVID-19 jabs on 26 February as the country has taken all necessary preparation to conduct a nationwide mass vaccination campaign up to grassroots level.

"We will go door to door at grassroots level to fulfill the target of the mass vaccination campaign to be conducted tomorrow across the country... we have taken all necessary preparations to make the mass vaccine campaign a success," Director general of Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) Prof Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam told BSS this afternoon.

He attributed the controlling of third wave of COVID-19 that hit Bangladesh mid-January this year to expansion of vaccination coverage including booster dose.

"We have laid emphasis on vaccination coverage as it (vaccine) has reduced both fatalities and rising of positivity rate of COVID-19... more than 80 per cent deaths linked to coronavirus are unvaccinated people," Alam added.

The government has set a target to complete first dose of coronavirus vaccine by 26 February, he said adding, "We have adequate quantity of vaccines and urge all eligible people to receive vaccines to protect themselves from the deadly disease."

"People will be allowed to receive COVID-19 vaccines without registration or any documents from any centre," Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the National Covid-19 Vaccine Management Taskforce told BSS on Friday.

"The main objective of tomorrow's mass vaccination campaign is to bring all vulnerable groups of people under vaccination coverage... meaning a significant progress of administering first dose of COVID-19 inoculation will be ensured," he added.

"We will complete administering the first dose of vaccination tomorrow," Shamsul said, adding all respective hospitals and vaccination centres have been directed to immunize coronavirus vaccine without any registration.

"A total of 30,000 vaccination booths will be set up across the country alongside mobile inoculation centres from city corporations to union levels," he said, adding 1,45,000 health workers will be engaged at these vaccination booths and inoculation centres.

The vaccination will start from 8am and it will continue throughout the day, the health service official said.

Anyone will be able to get COVID-19 vaccine only by giving mobile number, he said, adding that, "The people, who received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine, will be given a card... this card is given as a document for receiving second or booster dose."

After a good progress on first dose of COVID-19 vaccination coverage, Shamsul said, "We will focus on second and booster dose to scale up vaccination programme across the country."

On the day (Saturday), three vaccination centres will be set up at each union across the country while five mobile vaccination centres will inoculate the people at each upazila. Besides, 20 mobile centres will extend their services at each district, the health service official said.

As many as 30 mobile vaccination centres will be conducted at each zone of two city corporations of Dhaka while 40 vaccination centres will be conducted at Narayanganj City Corporation, Shamsul added.

A total of 60 mobile vaccination centres will immunize at each zone of Barishal, Sylhet, Cumilla and Mymensingh while 25 mobile vaccination centres will extend their inoculation services at Khulna, Rajshahi, Chattagram and Rangpur.

A total of 19,37,67,457 doses of COVID-19 vaccines including booster dose were administered till February 24, 2022 across the country.

"A total of 10,84,48,610 people have so far been administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine till February 24 while 8,17,70,135 received the second dose across the country during the same period," according to the data of Management Information System of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

As many as 35,48,712 people have so far received the booster dose of COVID- 19 vaccine to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, it added.

Some 37,585 floating people across the country have so far received the first dose of vaccine.

As of 24 February, a total of 9,45,39,187 people have been registered to receive COVID-19 vaccines in the country, the DGHS sources said adding, "As many as 8,79,18,501 people have been registered using NID cards, 14,33,390 registered using passports and 51,87,296 registered using birth registration certificates.