Health Desk – 27 Jan,2021: The vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus will begin tomorrow in Bangladesh as 25 people will be administered on the first day.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the vaccination programme at Kurmitola General Hospital here through videoconference from her official Ganabhaban residence at 3.30pm tomorrow.
The drive will begin with vaccinating a nurse at first while a total of 20 to 25 persons (frontline Covid-19 fighters including physicians, nurses, health workers, members of law enforcement agencies, army and journalists) will be inoculated on the first day.
On January 28, vaccines will be given at five centers including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) and Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) in Dhaka.
Concerned units have already taken preparation to vaccinate people and required trainings have been imparted to physicians and nurses.
Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) sources said Kurmitola General Hospital took all-out preparation for launching the vaccination drive.
“We have taken all-out preparations, prepared initial lists and places for vaccination,” BSMMU Director Brigadier General Dr Zulfiquer Ahmed Amin told journalists.
Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam said around 500 to 600 medical professionals of five hospitals — Kurmitola General Hospital, Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital, Mugda Medical College, Hospital and Dhaka Medical College Hospital Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) — will be given these vaccines ahead of launching the countrywide drive.
They (vaccine receivers) will be observed for seven days. “After completing seven-day observation, other listed people will be vaccinated during the nationwide vaccinations campaign,” Khurshid Alam said.
The countrywide vaccination drive is set to begin on February 7, the health ministry said.
Bangladesh received its first ever COVID-19 vaccine consignment on January 21 (Thursday) as India sent 20 lakh doses of vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca as gift.
The first consignment of COVID-19 50 lakh Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines purchased by the government landed in Dhaka on January 25.
The total vaccine doses stand at 70 lakh doses now. The government has taken all necessary preparations for distribution and preservation of these 70 lakh doses of vaccine, it added.
