Campaign for administering Covid-19 jabs extended 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.

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."

Source: BSS

AH