6-Day Vaccination Drive: Target revised down to 32 lakh
Although the government had initially planned to inoculate around one crore people against Covid-19 during a six-day special drive beginning today, it has revised down the target to 32 lakh apparently due to a shortage of vaccines.
Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), yesterday termed the nationwide campaign a "pilot project" and said it would be launched this morning in rural areas.
"The government would expand the campaign area. A total of 32 lakh people will be jabbed in more than 15,000 centres on August 7-12 during the campaign," he said at a press briefing at the capital's Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons. Health Minister Zahid Maleque was scheduled to address the briefing but he was not present.
Earlier, the government had announced that it would inoculate one crore people in those six days across the country.
However, a top government official on Wednesday said the number of doses would be lowered due to a shortage of vaccines.
The health DG yesterday said people aged 25 and above would be get the doses, stepping away from the government's previous statement that those aged 18 and above would be jabbed in the drive.
"Many people aged around 18 don't have NID [national identification] cards. It could create some chaos. So we decided to inoculate people who are aged 25 and over," he said adding that those completing the registration and getting text messages on their mobile phone would be given the shots.
The DG said the special vaccination campaign would be conducted in union, municipality and city corporation areas. "People aged over 50 who could not register for the vaccination can also take the shots this time."
He said people aged 50 years and above, women, people with disabilities and people living in remote areas will get priority in this special campaign.
The DG said the vaccination drive would be carried out in all unions, municipalities and city corporation areas. The doses will be administered in remote areas on August 8 and 9, while members of the forcibly displaced Rohingya community over the age of 55 will be inoculated on August 10 and 12.
Although there is a crisis of vaccines, the government is determined to vaccinate all the citizens of the country, the DG said.
He urged the people to come forward and take the shots leaving all sorts of "negative thoughts and superstition" regarding vaccination behind to win the fight against the virus.
"You have heard various comments coming from different places. Various issues have come up. We are aware of those things. We will try so that those don't happen again," he said.
The vaccination program will be carried out simultaneously in 4,600 unions, 1,054 municipalities and 433 wards in city corporation areas across the country with the help of 32,706 vaccinators and 48,459 volunteers.
Saying that around 30 lakh people were vaccinated in the last 10 days, the DG said, "This special drive is a pilot project to us. We will take lesson from this and move forward with our overall vaccination plan."
He said, "We want to test our capabilities. We want to see how many vaccines we can give to people at the grassroots level."
The DG said one crore 99 thousand people received the first dose of the vaccine in the country.
Currently, China's Sinopharm vaccine doses are being administered in rural areas and district towns while the Moderna vaccine in city corporation areas.
Mass inoculation against Covid-19 had remained suspended for over two months due to a shortage of doses. Bangladesh suspended administering the first dose of the vaccine on April 26. Registration of people for vaccination was suspended nine days later.
The government resumed administering the first dose on June 19 on a limited scale and then gradually expanded it.
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