50 lakh shots sent to 61 dists

The government has sent 50 lakh vaccine doses, purchased from Serum Institute of India, to 61 districts for the mass inoculation campaign against Covid-19 beginning on February 7.

The jabs have been transported to all the districts in the country, except Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj. The government might allocate vaccine doses for these three districts from the 20 lakh shots, which have recently been gifted by the Indian government, said health officials.

The officials could not confirm how many doses these three districts might get.

"Dhaka along with Gazipur and Narayanganj has not yet received any vaccine from the 50 lakh doses. It has also not been decided how many shots we will get," Abu Hussain Md Moinul Ahsan, civil surgeon of Dhaka district, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Talking to this correspondent, Mohammad Imtiaz, civil surgeon of Narayanganj district, also said his district was yet to get any vaccine.

After 567 people were administered vaccines during the pilot vaccination in Dhaka's five hospitals, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has kept the rest of the 20 lakh vaccines likely for the three districts, said the officials.

As the countrywide inoculation will start on February 7, officials of the Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd said they have completed delivering the vaccine to 61 districts yesterday.

Beximco is supplying the vaccines to the government as the sole distributor of Serum Institute of India (SII) in the country under a tripartite contract. The company will supply a total of three crore doses of vaccines under the agreement.

"We have completed our delivery today [yesterday]," Nazmul Hasan Papon, managing director of the pharmaceuticals, told this paper.

About the vaccine distribution plan for Dhaka, Dr Shamsul Alam, member secretary of the national vaccination committee at the DGHS, said, "It cannot be said before we complete the distribution."

The government will provide support to those who have no access to digital device for online registration to be vaccinated, officials said.

In addition to the union digital centres, the community healthcare providers will help people register online for taking vaccines, said DGHS officials.

"We have thought to organise online registration support in respective rural areas for those who will not be able to register themselves. We will inform [those who registered] about the date for vaccination after at least 10 people will register at a centre," Prof ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of the DGHS, told journalists yesterday.

He added that 15,000 people registered for vaccination across the country as of yesterday morning.

There are around 13,000 community clinics, each of which is run under the supervision of a community healthcare provider (CHCP), according to the DGHS.

"All of the CHCP has tabs and it has been decided to assign them to help those who have no access to digital device," Toufiq Hassan Shawon, medical officer at the MIS, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Meanwhile, the frontline journalists who do not belong to any professional association can be registered if their employer organisations email their lists to the respective offices of the government.

Issuing a circular, the Press Information Department has recently asked to send the lists with the names and ID numbers of journalists to pidprotocol2017@gmail.com.

Similarly, the management information system (MIS) unit of the health directorate has provided another e-mail ID: linedirector@mis.dghs.gov.bd to send such lists.

"An organisation should send a list of its employees so that we can include their names in the database of online registration easily," said Md Toufiq Hassan Shawon.

He added that solution of the technical issues regarding online registration was underway.

Since the android app for registration has yet to be available on Google Play Store, people can get registered through www.surokkha.gov.bd, officials said, adding that the app will be available in a few days.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam yesterday told parliament that Hungary has requested Bangladesh for 5,000 shots of Covid-19 vaccine.

Speaking on the thanksgiving motion on the president's speech, he said Bolivia has also requested Bangladesh to provide coronavirus vaccines.

"Hungary has requested us for 5,000 shots of Covid-19 vaccine. We will provide them with vaccine from the stock we have. The prime minister and the ministry of health will decide on Bolivia's request," Shahriar said.

Bangladesh is collecting Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced at the Serum Institute of India. Already 50 lakh shots of the vaccine, purchased by the government, and 20 lakh doses sent as gift by India have arrived in the country.

Another 2.5 crore doses are expected to reach the country in the next five months.

The state minister also called for taking action against those who are spreading rumours about vaccination.