The government has announced to kick off the Covid-19 vaccination drive in Bangladesh from the first week of February, ending all speculations.
Director General of the Health Services (DGHS) Prof Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam made the announcement on Monday, and said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will reach Bangladesh from the Serum Institute of India by January 25.
“We’ll start the vaccination one week after its arrival,” he clarified. “That means the vaccination will begin across the country in the first week of February”, he added
The online registration for vaccination will start from January 26, he said, adding that 50 lakh people will get the vaccine in the first phase. The second dose will be given eight weeks after the first dose.
Health workers and volunteers working with Covid management will get the vaccine on priority basis.
People, who will receive the vaccines, have to give their consent in a government provided form.
Around 7,500 of vaccine centres will be set up across the country in phases to conduct the inoculation drive. Two vaccinators from nurses, SACMO, family planning inspectors) and four volunteers will comprise a team in each center.
Upazila health centers, union parishad, district and sadar hospitals, government and private medical college hospitals, specialized hospitals, police, BGB and military hospitals are the vaccine administration sites.
There will be a ‘pharmacovigilance’ team who will follow the adverse events following immunization.
Bangladesh first recorded the Covid-19 cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18. However, the daily infection rate has declined in recent days.
The country recorded a daily infection rate of 8.29% on January 10, 7.52% on January 4, and 8.18% on January 1. So far, 523,302 cases have been recorded by the government. Total 7,803 people died of the disease.
The health ministry, in November last year, signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Serum Institute of India and Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd. to import the vaccine of the Oxford/AstraZeneca. Oxford is preparing its doses for the low and middle income countries in the Serum Institute, the largest vaccine maker in the world.
Under Beximco’s deal, 3 crore doses will come to Bangladesh in six phases – 50 lakh in each phase.
Bangladesh will get another 6 crore 80 lakh doses of Oxford vaccine from the Covax facility which is managed by the WHO for the 92 countries.
Dr Shamsul Haque, director of the Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI), said vaccine will be applied on the health workers or volunteers first.
They will be monitored for the next seven days for any adverse reaction. After that, nationwide vaccination will begin on the first week of February, he said.
Unskilled expatriate workers will also get the vaccine. But they have to stay in the country for eight weeks to get both the doses and will have to submit their valid passport, visa and work permit.
Bangladesh police will ensure security during the transport, storage and vaccination programme while the information ministry will help spread the information.
Apart from WHO pre-qualification, the drug administration will allow vaccines certified by the stringent regulatory authority of the US, Germany, France, UK, Australia, and Japan.
Oxford/ Astrazeneca vaccine has UK’s regulatory authority approval. Bangladesh approved it on January 7 for the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), removing all the obstacles to use in Bangladesh.
