Mass vaccination on Hasina’s birthday

The nationwide Covid-19 mass vaccination campaign was held on Tuesday successfully with a target to inoculate 75 lakh people on the occasion of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 75th birthday.

"The mass vaccination campaign started from 9am and it will continue till 7.30 pm this evening....all relevant organizations were monitoring round-the-clock and we have been able to conduct the vaccination drive smoothly," Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam told BSS Tuesday evening.

"We will collect information on countrywide mass vaccination campaign from all designated vaccination booths. The day-long inoculation drive may be extended, if the vaccination target is not fulfilled," he added.

 "Nearly 2.5crore people, who got them registered, for receiving Covid -19 vaccines... among the registered people, we targeted to vaccinate 75 lakh people," he added.

Registration was made mandatory to receive coronavirus vaccines during the day- long vaccination campaign, Alam said, adding, "Roughly five lakh people are being vaccinated daily... meaning nearly 80 lakh people may be immunized on Tuesday."

 During the campaign, people received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine and they will be given the second dose of inoculation on October 28, he added.

 The DGHS sources said people aged 25 and above were vaccinated Tuesday.

 As many as 80 thousand health workers were engaged with the drive to make it a success, they added.

Bangladesh has been lauded globally to control Covid -19 pandemic as the country has intensified its multiple efforts including vaccination and improving healthcare system to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

As of September 27, a total of 2,48,80,894 people received first shot and 1,64,99,866 exhausted the course getting the second dose of the inoculate.

The number of people who got them registered so far is 4,819,503, the DGHS sources said.

According to the health ministry, the government has decided to purchase 16.5 crore moreCovid-19 vaccines from China and other countries to expedite the countrywide vaccination campaign. Till to date, Bangladesh has collected 5,19,29,940 doses of vaccines, the DGHS sources said

Bangladesh set a target to vaccinate the country's 80 percent population by 2022 under an accelerated inoculation campaign, expecting receipt of required Covid -19 jabs within estimated timeline, it added.

Bangladesh has so far approved eight Covid -19 vaccines to control the deadly disease.

The approved Covid -19 vaccines are from Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, CoronaVac, Pfizer, Covishield, Sputnik V, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm

Special mass vaccination likely to be extended

The nationwide mass Covid-19 vaccination campaign that started Tuesday morning, marking Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's birthday, is likely to be extended.

While visiting a temporary vaccination centre near a restaurant in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi in the afternoon, Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus said the special campaign would continue till 7.5 million people were vaccinated during this bout.

Kaikaus said they would not stop there, and the special drive would continue further, targeting the inoculation of 10 million people, subject to the availability of vaccines.

Of the target, 500,000 people are the approximate ones who are getting vaccinated under the regular inoculation programme at the permanent centres across the nation every day.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) earlier said that apart from the regular vaccination schedule, 7.5 million people, aged above 25 and registered for the vaccine would get their first dose on Tuesday.

At least 1,500 people are expected to receive the vaccine at each union parishad, 500 people at each ward of municipalities, and 1,000 people at each ward of city corporations.

There would be three vaccination centres at each union parishad, and one centre at each ward of the municipalities, he said. The city corporation wards would each have one centre, but each centre would have three booths.

The government launched the first ever six-day mass vaccination campaign for adults on August 7. 

Completing the second dose administration on September 7, Bangladesh inoculated over 5 million people during the time frame.

Special mass vaccination likely to be extended