A historic day

Runu Veronica Costa, a senior nurse of Kurmitola General Hospital, yesterday received the first vaccine shot as Bangladesh joined the world in the Covid-19 vaccination campaign.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina termed the vaccination rollout a historic event.  

"Many countries are yet to start vaccination. But we have started it despite being a country with a vast population and limited resources," she said while formally inaugurating the vaccination campaign at Kurmitola General Hospital through video conferencing from the Gono Bhaban.

At the inaugural event, five people were vaccinated in virtual presence of the PM. Later, 21 others were also vaccinated.

The countrywide mass vaccination drive is scheduled to start on February 7. The government has planned to vaccinate 60 lakh people in the first month and another 50 lakh the following month. 

Online registration for mass vaccination also opened yesterday. People can register for vaccination through Shurokkha.gov.bd or using Shurokkha mobile app.      

"I hope the people of the country will get rid of coronavirus through this [vaccination campaign]," Hasina said in her speech.  

She also thanked those who paid heed to the government's call for maintaining health guidelines. 

The pilot vaccination will take place at five hospitals in Dhaka where around 500 health staffers of those hospitals will take the vaccine shots and then be observed for the next seven days, officials said. 

Around 42,000 workers will be involved in the countrywide inoculation campaign. 

Of the South Asian countries, Bangladesh has the highest number of vaccines in hands -- 70 lakh doses -- after India.

The PM said Covid-19 emerged at a time when the country was moving fast on the path of development. 

She thanked the doctors, nurses, other healthcare workers, health ministry officials and civil administration, and law enforcement agencies for coming forward to fight the pandemic since its outbreak in the country on March 8 last year.   

Praising their efforts, Hasina said, "Everybody has worked cordially. For this, I thank them all." 

She also mentioned different initiatives of her government, including the announcement of financial stimulus packages.

She, however, turned critical about those who have a "negative attitude" towards any measures of the government.  

She said though the vaccination programme has been taken following the protocols of the World Health Organization, some people are out to criticise the initiative. 

Despite that, she said the government is ready to press on with vaccination as the criticism spurs it to work with further urgency in procuring the vaccine.

The PM said the government has signed a tripartite agreement to bring 3.40 crore doses of the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca as a gift manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII). 

Of those, 50 lakh shots have already arrived and the rest will reach soon. The Indian government has also sent 20 lakh doses as gift, she said. 

The prime minister thanked her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in this regard.  

INAUGURATING THE VACCINE

After Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the inauguration, Runu Veronica Costa was the first to get vaccinated. 

Four others who took the shot in the virtual presence of the prime minister include Dr Ahmed Lutfun Mobin, a physician of the hospital, Prof Dr Nasima Sultana, additional director general (admin) of the Director General of Health Services, Brig Gen M Imran Hamid, an official of Bangladesh Army, and Didarul Islam, a member of traffic police (Motijheel Zone). 

Immediately afterwards, 21 more frontline Covid-19 fighters, including physicians, nurses, health workers, journalists and members of law enforcement agencies and army, were inoculated. 

Each vaccine recipient was observed for a while at the observation room in the hospital.  

None of them reported any adverse effects over the next two hours while this correspondent was present in front of the observation room.

"We have successfully concluded the inauguration today [yesterday]. None of the recipients reported any adverse effect," Brig Gen Jamil Ahmed, director of the hospital, told reporters. 

At the event, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said 70 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines are currently available in the country. Bangladesh first received two million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India as a gift and then received five more million doses from Serum Institute of India. 

He said Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is so far the safest in the world. Treatment facilities are available if any side effect is reported. 

About whether high-ups of his office will be vaccinated, he said, "We will take the vaccine after we are able to vaccinate the people."