Last minute scramble for vaccine

Thousands of people, who had not been vaccinated so far, crowded immunisation centres across the country on Saturday morning as it was earlier announced to be the last day for the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

However, the government later on the day extended the mass vaccination campaign till 28 February.

Mohammad Sagar, 19, works at a furniture shop on Wapda Road at Rampura in the capital. He had registered for the vaccine seven days ago and was jabbed at the temporary vaccination centre of Mahanagar Jame Mosque of Mahanagar Project in Rampura on Saturday.

Sagar told The Business Standard, "I heard that one has to pay for the vaccine after 28 February. So, after standing in line from 10am, I finally got the vaccine at 2pm. People are being vaccinated in two booths inside the mosque, one for women and the other for men."

Majida Begum, 45, a housemaid in Mahanagar project, had been standing in line since 9am on Saturday, but did not get the vaccine till 2pm.

She said, "I have heard that the vaccine would not be available after Saturday; so, I have been standing in line since the morning."

Around 2pm on Saturday, a long line of men and women was seen in front of the Mahanagar Jame Mosque Centre. Ten people were allowed to enter the centre at a time.

After entering the centre, the name, age and mobile number of the person to be vaccinated was being written down on a card at a booth. After going to the next booth with the card, people are being jabbed. They would be given the second dose of the vaccine at the same centre on 27 March.

Hatirjheel police station Sub-Inspector Ariful Rahman, who was in charge of security at the centre, said that the crowd was not so much during the previous vaccination campaign. "Today is the last day for the first dose and people are being vaccinated without registration. So, the crowd is overwhelming. Three to four policemen have been deployed at each centre to avoid chaos," he said.

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

Meanwhile, the government has extended the time for providing the first dose of coronavirus for two days till 28 February.

"We are extending the time of mass vaccination of the first dose for two more days. The decision has been taken following a huge crowd at the vaccination centres on the last day of the campaign," Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora, chair of the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for Covid-19 Vaccines in Bangladesh, told The Business Standard yesterday.

Turnout for vaccination was more than expected: Health minister

Health Minister Zahid Maleque has said more people are coming to get vaccinated than the authorities had previously imagined.

"We have started activities to vaccinate one crore people all over the country. A large number of people have come to the vaccination centres. We think the total number of vaccinations today will exceed the target of one crore," he said while addressing a meeting on post-vaccination affairs on Saturday.

The minister added that providing the first dose of vaccine will continue for two more days.

"There are adequate vaccines in stock. There is no shortage. First, second and booster doses will be given as before," he said.

Once the targeted number of people are inoculated, Bangladesh will exceed the World Health Organisation's (WHO) instruction of jabbing 70% of the population, said the minister.

The coronavirus vaccine was introduced in the country on 7 February last year. Until last Friday, more than 12.62 crore people have received the first dose of corona vaccine. Of them, 8.19 crore have received the second dose also while more than 35 lakh people got the booster dose.