COVID vaccines arrive in districts as Bangladesh gears up for nationwide inoculation

Coronavirus vaccine doses have reached more than half of the districts as Bangladesh starts its nationwide inoculation on Feb 7.

Health workers will get the vaccines first, followed by others on the frontline of the fight against COVID-19 and those on the priority list. Many of the districts are set to train vaccinators and volunteers.

The doses reached 36 districts until Friday, said Dr ABM Khurshid Alam, director-general of health services. Officials of the Directorate General of Health Services will receive the vaccines on the opening day, Khurshid said at a programme at the DGHS on Saturday.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque will attend the launch of the mass vaccination at a hospital in Dhaka. Besides the frontline workers and 150 officials of the DGHS, “distinguished citizens” will also take the shots there, Khurshid said.

In the capital, 354 teams will administer doses at 43 facilities, he said, citing the initial plan.

As many as 6,690 teams will be deployed across the country, but the 4,600 centres at the union level will remain out of the coverage for now.

He urged the people to take the vaccine and encourage others to do so.

Those unable to register online for the vaccine can visit the vaccination centres where the workers will help them register, Khurshid said.

As many as 11,000 people registered for the vaccine through the Surokkha web application until Saturday.

Bangladesh is using the vaccine developed by the UK’s Oxford University and British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca for mass vaccination.  Serum Institute of India, the manufacturer of the vaccine, has sent the first batch of five million doses, part of 30 million doses ordered by Bangladesh. India has also sent two million doses for free.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the vaccination drive via video conferencing with a nurse given the first dose at the Kurmitola General Hospital in Dhaka on Jan 27. More 550 others also received the doses in the first two days. The authorities will observe them for some days following the World Health Organisation protocol before starting mass vaccination as the vaccine was not trialled in Bangladesh.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals, the sole distributor of the vaccine in Bangladesh, is transporting the doses to the district facilities under the deal with the government.

The government will send the doses to the Upazila-level facilities. The vials need to be stored and transported at the normal refrigerated temperature of two degrees to eight degrees Celsius.

bdnews24.com divisional and district correspondents have also reported arrival of the doses.

Dr Habibul Ahsan Talukder, divisional health director of Rajshahi, said they plan to vaccinate 720,000 people in the eight districts of the division in the first phase.

Rajshahi Civil Surgeon Dr Kayum Talukder said they received 19 cartons, each containing 1,200 vials, on Friday and stored those at the facilities of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation or EPI.

Each vial contains enough doses for 10 people, which means the district can administer 228,000 doses from the first batch.     

Dr Saiful Ferdous, director of Rajshahi Medical College, said they were preparing four booths for vaccination drive at the hospital.

Barishal Civil Surgeon Monwar Hossain said they received 168,000 doses. Besides the EPI facilities for 400,000 vials, they have nine Ice Lined Refrigerators with the capacity to store a total of 63,900 vials.

Initially nine Upazila health complexes have been readied along with the Barishal General Hospital and Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital for the mass vaccination programme.

The four districts of Mymensingh division received 504,000 doses. The authorities are setting up eight vaccination booths in Mymensingh city and two in each Upazila, said Civil Surgeon ABM Moshiul Alam.

Chattogram Civil Surgeon Sheikh Fazle Rabbi said they were supposed to receive 456,000 doses on Sunday. Besides the EPI stores in the port city, each Upazila health complex in the district has two ILRs.

As many as 444,000 doses are scheduled to reach Sylhet on Sunday, said Anisur Rahman, assistant director of divisional health directorate office.