Large-scale vaccination resumes next week

With 56 lakh doses of Covid-19 shots in hand and hope for further supplies, the government is going to initiate a large-scale nationwide vaccination programme next week as the immunisation task force said people will be inoculated at vaccine camps round the clock.

"We will vaccinate citizens whenever they show up at the camps," Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the Covid-19 Vaccine Management Taskforce, told The Business Standard Thursday.

He said the ramped-up mass inoculation will not meet with any supply crunch this time. However, Dr Haque did not specify the mass vaccination resumption date.

He said the Moderna shots will be administered in 12 city corporation areas of the country while upazilas will rely on Sinopharm doses.

Bangladesh has received 25 lakh doses of the Moderna vaccine, 1 lakh doses of Pfizer and 30 lakh doses of the Sinopharm vaccines. Besides, there are assurances over receiving more shots in the upcoming months under a bulk-buy deal with China and the Covax facility – a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.

The country rolled out its mass immunisation programme on 7 February this year with India-manufactured Oxford-AstraZeneca doses. The 8am-to-2pm campaign vaccinated 1.5 to 2 lakh people a day until it faced a supply crisis in April.

The supply crunch halted the mass campaign on 25 April. Since then, citizens who already had their first doses have been receiving the second shots.

On 1 July, migrant workers, medical and university students and law enforcers were brought under the immunisation campaign as the supply crisis eased up slightly. Currently, 10,000 people on average are being vaccinated by Pfizer and Sinopharm doses per day.

The government has lowered the minimum age ceiling to qualify for the campaign to 35 from the previous 40 years as the country has been witnessing brutal surges in infection and death rates due to an explosion of the Delta variant – the Indian strain of the coronavirus.

With the age limit reduced, Bangladesh now needs at least 7 crore shots to cover the targeted population.

From 27 January 2021 until Thursday, around 79.48 lakh people have registered for vaccines – which is only 20% of the targeted population.

Dhaka so far received 1.60 crore doses of coronavirus vaccines including 1.3 crore Oxford-AstraZeneca, 31 lakh Sinopharm, 25 lakh Moderna and 1.06 lakh Pfizer shots. The 1.60 crore shots can immunise the highest 80 lakh people.

A total of 58.20 lakh people took only one dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, while 42.93 lakh citizens took two doses.

Besides, 2,237 people took two doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, while 1.03 lakh people took only one dose. So far, 6,752 individuals have taken the Pfizer jab.

Prof Sayedur Rahman, pharmacology department chairman at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, appreciated the government's move to widen the immunisation coverage.

"But with only 56 lakh doses in hand, we now need to set our priority first. We must immunise people above 55 as the death rate of the elderly citizens is alarming," he noted.

Doses due to Dhaka

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told journalists that Bangladesh will get 35 lakh shots in July under the Covax facility.

"Of them, 25 lakh shots are likely to come from Japan and 10 lakh shots from the European Union. And the donations might be the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine," he told the press.

Dhaka signed a 1.5 crore dose of bulk-buy deal with Sinopharm. According to the agreement, the Chinese vaccine manufacturer will provide 50 lakh doses each in June, July and August.

In June, 20 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine have arrived in the country so far.

Besides, Dhaka is in talks with Moscow to buy 1 crore doses of Sputnik V vaccine. Health Minister Zahid Maleque said the Sputnik vaccine may arrive in July. However, the minister did not specify any date or the size of the consignment.