Vaccine Drive: Enthusiastic response from recipients

The first day of the Covid-19 second dose vaccine rollout marked much enthusiasm among the people in all centres across the country yesterday.

On the first day, people received their second jabs during the campaign from 9:00am to 3:00pm.

The campaign will continue till Sunday, according to the health officials.

On August 7, around 34 lakh people, aged 25 years and above, received the first jab of Covid-19 vaccine through on-spot registration under the six-day-long special inoculation campaign.

The government carried out this special campaign in 4,600 unions in rural areas and 1,497 wards in municipalities and city corporation areas countrywide, in addition to the regular programme in 1,005 centres.

At that time, many people returned barehanded due to the shortage of vaccine supply, resulting in a mass outcry for the vaccine.

On the contrary, yesterday's campaign was comparatively smooth except for the violation of health safety guidelines in many vaccination centres.

"I have received my second dose without any hassle. The vaccinators and the volunteers are doing their jobs perfectly," Kamrul Islam, inhabitants of Belgharia area of north town in Natore, told The Daily Star.

In Dhaka city, however, many had to return without taking vaccines from the centres as the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) rescheduled the dates for many in Dhaka city at the last minute on Monday.

On the official Facebook page of the DGHS, Prof Khurshid Alam announced that those who received their first jabs on August 7 and 8 in Dhaka city, they would receive their second jabs only yesterday.

As a result, many who received their first jabs on August 9 or later, but were asked to come for their second jabs yesterday, returned barehanded.

In Rajshahi city, as many as 27,000 people received their second jabs of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine, reports our correspondent.

The campaign was carried out simultaneously at 84 centres of 30 wards of the corporation between 8:00am and 3:00pm.

Anjuman Ara Begum, the city corporation's chief health officer, said they would jab the second dose to some 1.25 lakh people of the city in four days till September 12.

In Munshigonj, the campaign for the second dose was carried out without any chaos, but the health safety guidelines were not maintained properly, reports our correspondent.

Musnhsiganj Civil Surgeon Abul Kalam Azad said, "The second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine was started in 47 unions and one municipality. We will carry out a campaign in the remaining 22 unions tomorrow."

A total of 41,621 people received their first dose in the Munshiganj during the last month's special campaign.

Quoting Cumilla's civil surgeon Mir Mubarak Hossain, our correspondent reports that a total of 173,480 people will receive their second jabs in three days under the campaign.

In Natore district, a total of 24,975 people will get their second jabs under the mass vaccination programme, reports our correspondent, quoting Dr Kazi Mizanur Rahman, civil surgeon of Natore district.

The first day of the second dose vaccination campaign also marked people's enthusiasm in Khulna, Dinajpur and Sylhet, report our correspondents from those districts.