Bangladesh COVID19 vaccination: 31,160 inoculated 1st day

Health minister Zahid Maleque receives coronavirus vaccine at Sheikh Russel National Gastroliver Institute and Hospital in Dhaka on Sunday. — Sourav Lasker

Bangladesh on Sunday launched its nationwide COVID-19 vaccination, with the inoculation of 31,160 people amid lukewarm responses from people.

The vaccination campaign kicked off 336 days after the first three coronavirus cases were detected in the country on March 8 last year.

Health minister Zahid Maleque virtually inaugurated the vaccination drive at the Directorate General of Health Services in the capital’s Mohakhali at 10:00am before he took the jab at Sheikh Russel National Gastroliver Institute and Hospital.

‘This is a day of joy for us…We’ve waited for this day for long to find an effective way to fight COVID-19,’ the minister said, urging people to take the vaccine ignoring any confusion.

The health agency in a release in the evening said that 31,160 people, including 23,857 males and 7,303 females, were vaccinated on the first day, which was far less than the daily target of 1.5 lakh people.

Among the vaccine recipients, 5,071 were in the capital.

‘People have shown a conservative attitude in getting the vaccine on the first day,’ DGHS director for disease control Nazmul Islam told New Age in the evening when asked about the reason for the low turnout.

‘Many wanted to proceed cautiously over side-effects, but I hope that more people will be encouraged to get the jab in the coming days after seeing so many dignitaries taking the vaccine on the first day,’ he added.

Without disclosing the number of people scheduled and confirmed through mobile messages to get the vaccine on the day, Nazmul said that they had the arrangement for vaccinating more than 1.5 lakh people.

Bangladesh is using the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine which has been manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. Each person will be given two doses of the vaccine.

After inaugurating the vaccination drive, the health minister went to the vaccination centre at Sheikh Russel National Gastro Liver Institute and Hospital at around 11:15pm to receive the shot.

‘Don’t spread rumor. It’s a safe vaccine,’ he told reporters.

He said that 70 lakh doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine were in Bangladesh. ‘We have also the treatment facilities ready if anyone develops any side effects,’ he said.

The minister said that the country’s war on the coronavirus started with the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh on March 8, 2020.

‘We have started various initiatives to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. There has been much criticism of our activities, but we have risen above those. Today, Bangladesh is in a better state than many countries. Our way of life is normal,’ he said.

Agriculture minister Abdur Razzaque, fisheries and livestock minister SM Rezaul Karim, science and technology minister Yeafesh Osman, state minister for public administration Farhad Hossain, DGHS director general ABM Khurshid Alam, Bangladesh Medical Association president Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin and Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad president Iqbal Arsalan were also vaccinated there.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain took the vaccine at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital.

Fifty-four justices of the High Court, including M Enayetur Rahim, Md Ruhul Quddus and Kazi Zinat Hoque, took the vaccine shot at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

Teachers of the BSMMU and Dhaka University, including DU vice-chancellor Md Akhtaruzzaman, also took the vaccine at the BSMMU vaccination centre.

Noted freedom fighter and Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury also took the jab at the BSMMU.

‘It’s our national duty to take the vaccine,’ said the health rights campaigner, calling on the government to ensure the vaccine for the mass people who are economically backward.

‘There is nothing to worry about the vaccine (side-effects),’ he said, adding the prime minister should take the vaccine to boost public confidence.

Workers Party of Bangladesh president and former minister Rashed Khan Menon took the shot at the DMCH.

Deputy minister for education Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel inaugurated the COVID-19 vaccination programme in the port city of Chattogram by taking first the vaccine.

He received the vaccine at Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

In Rajshahi, lawmaker Fazle Hossain Badsha received the jab at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

On January 27, prime minister Sheikh launched the token COVID-19 vaccination programme at Kurmitola General Hospital in the city through a videoconference.

At that inaugural event, five people were vaccinated in the virtual presence of the prime minister. Runu Veronica Costa, a senior staff nurse at the hospital, was the first to get the shot in the country.

The Sunday vaccination was held at 1,015 hospitals across the country, including 50 hospitals in the capital.

Vaccine shots are being given at the upazila- and district-level government health facilities across the country.

From today onwards, the vaccine will be administered every day from 8:00am to 2:30pm at the immunisation centres.

A team of 204 health workers in Dhaka and 2,196 outside Dhaka are engaged in the vaccination campaign.

A total of 7,344 teams, comprising health workers and volunteers, have been formed to continuously vaccinate people against COVID-19.

Anyone interested in being inoculated must first register through the website www.surokkha.gov.bd.

The DGHS has planned to inoculate 35 lakh people in the first month, but the registration process inconveniences and public confusion about the vaccine presumably drew a relatively low number of registrations for the vaccination.

As many people missed the vaccine dose on Sunday, DGHS director Nazmul said, those who did not turn up for the shot on Sunday would be vaccinated on any later day.

‘They will just have to carry the vaccination card and the NID card with them,’ he said.

He said that over four lakh people registered by Sunday afternoon and they would get the shot every day.

The BSMMU authorities said that about 560 people were vaccinated at its vaccination centre on Sunday. The hospital also keeps an option for on-the-spot registrations for those who hold constitutional positions.

Dhaka Medical College Hospital director Nazmul Haque said that more than 3,000 people registered for the vaccination at the hospital, adding that about 500 of them were vaccinated on Sunday.

The vaccine recipients are kept under observation at the vaccination centres for 20-30 minutes after the shot is given.

The vaccinated people are provided with the necessary telephone numbers of DGHS and doctors if they face any side effects after the vaccination.

DGHS additional director general Meerjady Sabrina Flora said that the vaccine was safe and everyone should come forward to take the vaccine.

‘I’d request everyone to register for the vaccination as the registration process would help implement the vaccination progrmme successfully,’ she said.

The government has purchased 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from the Serum Institute of India.

It has already received a total of seven million doses of the vaccine, including two million free doses from the Indian government.

According to the national COVID-19 vaccination plan, the government will inoculate 80 per cent of the country’s population, or around 13,824 crore people.