No serious side effect

Top health official Prof Nasima Sultana, who was inoculated on Wednesday, said she was feeling very well and had been working as usual at office and home.

The additional director general of the health directorate was one of the 26 people who took the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine shot on the first day of the piloting.

"I volunteered to take the vaccine, hoping to dispel the misconception about vaccination," she told The Daily Star.

The government conducted the two-day piloting of the vaccine before launching the mass inoculation on February 7.

Officials said none of the 567 people, who volunteered to take the shots, have shown any adverse impacts so far. They would be observed for seven days.

Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the vaccination committee at the health directorate, said, "We were afraid that someone would suffer a severe allergic shock about 15-30 minutes after taking the shot. But there was no such case."

This correspondent talked to a dozen people, who got the shot, and excepting a few, who had a temperature, everyone said they were fine.

Ahmed Lutful Moben, associate professor of medicine, said he was not feeling any adverse effects and had been performing his usual hospital duties.

"After taking the vaccine, I worked at the hospital and drove home. I inoculated about 100 of my colleagues the next day. I am fine," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

The pain where the needle was pushed is "ignorable", he added.

The five hospitals where the two-day piloting took place were Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Kurmitola General Hospital, Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Hospital, and Mugda Medical College Hospital.

Officials at the hospitals said a few of the vaccine recipients had mild fever.

Doctor Moben said, "It is quite normal. It means the vaccine is developing immunity in the body."

Prof Mamun Al Mahtab Swapnil and his wife Associate Prof Nuzhat Chowdhury both took the shots at the BSMMU on Thursday.

Prof Swapnil told this correspondent that he and his wife felt no adverse effect whatsoever.

"Since taking the shots, my wife and I have been seeing patients and went to talk-shows. Some of my colleagues at the hospital also told me that they were absolutely fine," he said.

Frontline health workers, several politicians, government officials, and civil society members, have taken the jab on the second day of the piloting.

"We are lucky to have the vaccine early. Many countries are still struggling to get the shots. We should not miss the opportunity," Prof Swapnil said.