BANGLADESH

Campaign for administering COVID-19 jabs extends till Feb 28

The countrywide mass vaccination campaign for administering the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines will continue till February 28 as the drive has drawn huge response from all eligible people to receive coronavirus jabs.

“Bangladesh has set the day-long nationwide campaign that began at 8am this morning aiming to vaccinate one crore people but the authorities has extended the drive for two days to bring all eligible people under first dose of
vaccination coverage,” Health Minister Zahid Maleque said today at a virtual function held at Manikganj district, Report BSS

Second and booster dose will continue alongside the mass vaccination campaign, he said, adding, “I hope that over one crore people will receive COVID-19 jabs in today’s campaign… Bangladesh has created a milestone
progress for administering coronavirus vaccines to huge number of people in a single day.”

“We are seeing that people thronged vaccination centres and booths for receiving coronavirus jabs, which will create a good impact for containing the spread of the deadly virus,” the health minister added.

“All eligible people are thronging designated vaccination centres and booths to receive COVID-19 jabs…we are monitoring the nationwide mass vaccination campaign to make it successful to fight the disease” Director General of Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam told BSS.

Earlier, the government has set a target to complete first dose of coronavirus vaccine today but the government decided to continue the campaign till February 28 to reach a remarkable progress in the first dose of vaccination coverage, he added.

“We have adequate quantity of vaccines and urge all eligible people to receive vaccines to protect themselves from the deadly disease,” Alam added.

While visiting different vaccination centres in the capital, people were seen queuing from early hours of today to receive the COVID-19 jabs.

There are a huge number of people, who are still out of vaccination coverage, the DGHS chief said this campaign will make considerable contribution to bring all under vaccination coverage.

“All eligible people will be given vaccines as soon as possible…for this we are launching such drive to bring 70 percent people under vaccination coverage,” he added.

“Since mid-February, we have geared up significantly the COVID-19 vaccination programme and we will scale up our efforts to reach the target at the quickest possible time,” Alam added.

Dr Ayesha Akhter, a physician of TB hospital at Shyamoli said, “People started gathering at our hospital from early hours and a large number of people received vaccines from our hospital and we have conducted vaccination services throughout the day.”

“We will go door to door at grassroots level to bring all people under first dose of vaccination coverage. For this we have extended the campaign for two more days,” he added.

Health workers have been directed to provide vaccination services till February 28 so that no one will remain out of vaccination coverage, Alam added.

The vaccination campaign began at 8am this morning and it continued throughout the day, the health service chief said, adding the drive which began early this morning will continue throughout the day.

He attributed the controlling of third wave of COVID-19 that hit Bangladesh mid-January this year, to expansion of vaccination coverage, including booster dose.

“We have laid emphasis on vaccination coverage as it (vaccine) has reduced both fatalities and rising of positivity rate of COVID-19… more than 80 percent deaths linked to coronavirus are unvaccinated people,” Alam added.

“We have adequate quantity of vaccines and urge all eligible people to receive vaccines to protect themselves from the deadly disease.” “People was allowed to receive COVID-19 vaccines without registration or any documents from any centre,” Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the National Covid-19 Vaccine Management Taskforce, said.

“We will complete administering the first dose of vaccination today, but we will continue the drive two more days to bring maximum people under first dose of COVID-19 vaccine Shamsul said, adding all respective hospitals and vaccination centres have been directed to immunize coronavirus vaccine without any registration.

“The main objective of mass vaccination campaign is to bring all vulnerable groups of people under vaccination coverage… meaning a significant progress of administering first dose of COVID-19 inoculation will be ensured ,” he added.

“A total of 30,000 vaccination booths have been set up across the country alongside mobile inoculation centres from city corporations to union levels,” he said, adding 1,45,000 health workers have been engaged at these
vaccination booths and inoculation centres.

Anyone will be able to get COVID-19 vaccine only by giving mobile number, he said, adding that “The people, who will receive the first dose of coronavirus vaccine, will be given a card… this card is given as a document
for receiving second or booster dose.”

After a good progress on first dose of COVID-19 vaccination coverage, Shamsul said, “We will focus on second and booster dose to scale up vaccination programme across the country.”

Three vaccination centres have been set up at each union across the country while five mobile vaccination centres will inoculate the people at each upazila and 20 mobile centres will extend their services at each district, the health service official said.

As many as 30 mobile vaccination centres have been set up at each zone of two city corporations of Dhaka while 40 vaccination centres have been set up at Narayanganj city corporations, Shamsul added.

A total of 60 mobile vaccination centres will immunize at each zone of Barishal, Sylhet, Cumilla and Mymensingh while 25 mobile vaccination centres will extend their inoculation services at Khulna, Rajshahi, Chattagram and
Rangpur.

A total of 19,50,81,035 doses of COVID-19 vaccines including booster dose were administered till February 25, 2022 across the country.

A total of 10,95,81,331 people have been administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine till yesterday( February 24) while 8,19,39,878 received the second dose across the country during the same period,” according to the data of Management Information System of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

As many as 35,59,826 people have so far received the booster dose of COVID- 19 vaccine to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, it added.

Some 37,585 floating people across the country have so far received the first dose of vaccine.

As of February 25, a total of 9,48,94,147 people have been registered to receive COVID-19 vaccines in the country, the DGHS sources said adding, “As many as 8,81,49,240 people have been registered using NID cards, 14,34,259 registered using passports and 53,10,648 registered using birth registration certificates.”

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