Bangladesh opens expanded mass COVID vaccination drive with enthusiasm and disorder

A pause and a lack of awareness dampened public enthusiasm in vaccination, but COVID-19 raging in rural areas coupled with the launch of an expanded inoculation drive appears to have reignited the interest in getting jabbed.

People overcrowded more than 15,000 centres across Bangladesh on Saturday with no option to practice physical distancing, giving the police, Ansar and volunteers a hard time.

Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the COVID-19 Vaccine Implementation Committee, was pleased with the turnout. “A huge number of people have showed up for the vaccine. We think this mass vaccination campaign will create enthusiasm among the people.”

The nationwide vaccination drive will continue in city corporation areas until Aug 9. Vaccine shots will be given at the union and municipal level on Aug 8 and 9.

Doses will also be administered in remote areas on Aug 8 and 9, while members of the forcibly displaced Rohingya community over the age of 55 will be inoculated from Aug 10 to 12.

“We have started the vaccination programme today. If it isn’t possible to conduct the campaign in an area today, we shall do it tomorrow. Nobody will be left out. We will run this six-day programme all over the country,” said Dr Haque.

The number of people signing up for the coronavirus vaccine on the government’s Surokkha web platform was not big in the early days, but it has been rising rapidly since Jul 25, said Masum Billah, system manager at the government’s ICT Division.

The government suspended the registration in May due to a lack of vaccine doses. The process resumed it in July after more doses arrived. The continuous availability of vaccines has emboldened the government to plan the expanded inoculation drive.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque had said they would aim to vaccinate 120 million people in eight days, but the figure was trimmed.

Bangladesh has so far received over 25.6 million doses of vaccine from India, China, Japan, and the US under purchase deals or through the COVAX platform led by the World Health Organization.  

CROWDS

In Dhaka, people were shoving each other while waiting in long queues at Bangabandhu Academy in Agargaon and the police and Ansar personnel were blowing the whistle in vain to control the crowd.     

With 40 women still waiting for the vaccine, an Ansar member announced that only 13 of them will get the jab due to a lack of doses, leading to a commotion.

One of the women, Yasmin, who gave a single name, said she had been waiting for two hours.  

A volunteer said the centre was supposed to inoculate 350 people, but 50 doses did not arrive, which caused the trouble.  

Kabirul Islam, a day labourer, was visibly happy after getting his shot following a four-hour wait.

So was domestic help Julekha Begum who waited for three and a half hours. “No one cares about us. But I’m happy that I’ve got the vaccine finally after queuing for this long.”

Workers of Jubo League and local volunteers helped the people fill in the vaccine cards properly.

Amir Hossain Riku, who came for his jab to Noorjahan Road Government Primary School in Mohammadpur, complained about mismanagement.

He said the authorities should have closed the gate to avert the disturbance after the first 350 people arrived. Many people had to return home without the vaccine.

FESTIVE ATMOSPHERE

People were reported to have received vaccine jabs in a festive mood in Jashore, Chuadanga, Jamalpur, Bhola, Kurigram, Natore, Gopalganj, Netrokona and Feni.

In Chuadanga, 200 people got the vaccine at each of 119 booths in 59 centres as the authorities targeted to inoculate 23,900 people on the first day.

“People arrived for the vaccine voluntarily. Vaccination will be carried out in fewer centres tomorrow and the day after. We will continue the campaign based on how many vaccines we have,” said the district’s Civil Surgeon Dr ASM Maruf Hasan.

People in rural areas were not too interested in getting inoculated since the beginning of the campaign due to a fear of side effects and other issues. However, they did not appear to be afraid of vaccination on Saturday.

Elderly men and women keen on receiving vaccines poured into the centres in Tangail in the morning.

TWO WOMEN GET TWO SHOTS EACH

The vaccines currently being used in Bangladesh are all two dose regimens, with the second shot administered weeks after the first jab. The gap differs depending on the type of vaccines.

But two women, one in Rajbari and another in Brahmanbaria, received two shots each on the first day of the drive.

In Rajbari, a 31-year-old woman took one shot in her left arm. As she held her left arm with the right one, another health worker pushed a jab on her right arm.  

“This might’ve happened due to a mistake or carelessness,” said Civil Surgeon Dr Md Ibrahim Titon.

She was kept under observation and doing well, officials said. 

In Brahmanbaria, the 38-year-old recipient of the two doses was waiting for her husband to be inoculated after taking her first dose.

When she went inside to look for her husband, a health worker administered another dose to her, the man told the media.

Dr Noman Mia, health and family planning officer of Sarail Upazila, claimed the woman had told the health workers she had not been inoculated.

“We could not find her. But she will not face any problem for the overdose.”