Second day of mass vaccination campaign begins

The second day of the countrywide mass vaccination campaign for administering the first dose of Covid-19 vaccines began at 8am this morning.

"Bangladesh has extended the one-day campaign into three-day drive to reach fully the unvaccinated people with first dose... we are receiving unprecedented response from all levels of people across the country" Director General of Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam told BSS.

"Like the first day of the campaign, 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," Alam added.   

Earlier, the government set a target to complete the first dose of coronavirus vaccine on February 26, but the government decided to continue the campaign for two more days to reach 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.                                                        

"Bangladesh has set the day-long nationwide campaign that began at 8am yesterday morning aiming to vaccinate one crore people but we have extended the drive for two days to bring all eligible people under first dose of vaccination coverage," Health Minister Zahid Maleque has said at a virtual function held at Manikganj district yesterday( February 26). 

Second and booster doses will continue alongside the mass vaccination campaign, he said, describing the mass vaccination campaign as one of the largest one in the world.

Bangladesh secured 10th position in the vaccination programme and the ongoing mass vaccination campaign will push the country into a new feat covering fully unvaccinated people to fight the Covid-19, the health minister added.

"We hope that we will create a milestone success for administering coronavirus vaccines to a huge number of people during the three-day drive," he 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, "On the second day of the campaign, people started gathering in our hospital from the early hours."

"A large number of people received vaccines from our hospital on the first day of the campaign and we have changed the scheduled time of vaccination as a huge crowd is thronging in our hospital to receive the vaccine," she added. 

The DGHS chief said, "We will go door to door at grassroots level to bring all people under the 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 tomorrow so that no one will remain out of vaccination coverage, Alam added.

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.

"During the campaign, people are 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 during the three-day drive," 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 26, 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 26) 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.

"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."