Vaccine justice: Some disquieting facts from the field | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
June 13, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2025
Vaccine justice: Some disquieting facts from the field

Thoughts

Nahida Akter
17 September, 2021, 10:30 am
Last modified: 17 September, 2021, 10:30 am

Related News

  • 16% of Bangladeshi children still missing out on vaccination, experts warn
  • 16% children ‍still deprived of vaccination: Study
  • Dhaka airport issues vaccination guidelines for Hajj, Umrah pilgrims
  • 93% eligible girls get vaccinated against Human Papilloma Virus across Bangladesh
  • 'No vaccination without pay grade raise': Healthcare workers issue ultimatum

Vaccine justice: Some disquieting facts from the field

More than half of the respondents interviewed from marginalised households reported that not one eligible member in their household has been vaccinated

Nahida Akter
17 September, 2021, 10:30 am
Last modified: 17 September, 2021, 10:30 am
TBS Sketch of Nahida Akhter
TBS Sketch of Nahida Akhter

While images of uncontrollable crowds at the vaccine centres during the recent mass inoculation seem to indicate that Bangladesh has addressed the challenge of large scale vaccine hesitancy, a key question remains: are we ensuring vaccine justice to all, especially at the margins. 

Until now, most global and local studies have focused on vaccine hesitancy and acceptance as critical challenges to tackle in the drive to rein in the rampant Covid-19 virus. However, the vaccination landscape has changed dramatically in the recent past, buoyed by a healthy rise in willingness to get vaccinated. 

Having won the battle over minds on vaccine acceptance, the moot challenge now is of providing vaccines to 117.8 million target populations. It is timely to recollect the prescient words of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) - "Vaccine equity is the challenge of our time." 

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Though the Government of Bangladesh's drive for mass inoculation has got off to a good start with spot registrations and 39.2 million online registrations (as on 6th September, 2021), delivering vaccines on the ground to meet this urgent demand is proving to be a daunting task. 

Vaccines and the digital divide

Online registration is currently a prerequisite for getting the vaccine and this has provoked concerns of digital exclusion as Internet Connectivity is quite low for the country as a whole. 

According to the latest National ICT Household Survey 2019, access to internet and technological devices is very limited for the rural community (34.8%) and for the elderly population aged more than 60 (2.7%). 

Women also lag far behind (34.2%) their male counterparts (53.2%) in internet usage. Given this reality, an online registration process runs a heavy risk of excluding the people living as digital immigrants (newly adapting), or digital naives (completely incapable of using the Internet) from the vaccination process.

Profiling vaccine vulnerability is also severely hampered by gaps in information. There is no reliable data that provides a micro picture of the vaccine-recipients based on their socio-economic status. In other words, we do not know who is falling off the vaccine grid. 

Vaccine equity is the challenge of our time. PHOTO: Salauddin Ahmed
Vaccine equity is the challenge of our time. PHOTO: Salauddin Ahmed

We need to know which are the "hard-to-reach" groups (marked by high levels of demand, but face supply shortages), and the "hard-to-vaccinate" groups (characterised by low levels of demand despite having no supply constraints). 

Evidence from the field

In an effort to explore marginalised communities' experience of Covid-19 and their perceptions and attitudes toward the vaccine, the Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) at Brac University is tracking a national sample of 1,533 marginalised households through a field survey and has hosted selected focus group discussions under the study, "Voices from the Margins and Inclusive Policy Responses in Covid-19 Pandemic". 

Initial evidence  reveals a picture of hesitant communities grappling with uncertainty and confusion as they are left with very little information. Misinformation, superstition and cynicism abound. One of the focus group participants who has a person with disabilities in the household expressed his concerns saying, "Poor people do not need the vaccine. Allah will save us. Also, I have  heard that the vaccine causes fever and sickness. How will I go to work if I get sick? Who will feed my family?"

Online registration is currently a prerequisite for getting the vaccine and this has provoked concerns of digital exclusion as Internet connectivity is quite low for the country as a whole.

Evidence from our survey suggests that 52.4% of the respondents interviewed from marginalised households living in remote rural areas, urban slums, ethnic and religious communities, people with disability and female heads, reported that not one eligible member in their household has been vaccinated (as of June 15, 2021). Additionally,  one  in 10  of the respondents had no idea about the registration process and one in two  did  not even know the whereabouts of the vaccine centres.

Vaccine hesitancy still persists. When asked if they think that the vaccine is necessary for resisting Corona, 60% said yes whereas 13% said no and 27% were unsure.

When inquired about the attitude towards the vaccine one in 10 thinks it has severe side effects, with an equal proportion considering the vaccine unsafe. One in five  respondents said poor people do not need the vaccine and 6% think that the vaccine would not work against Corona. 

Overall, our survey found almost half of the respondents (46%) still being hesitant or critical about the vaccine. And as most of their worries about the side effects have not yet been allayed, 28% are still very much or moderately concerned about getting vaccinated. 

Inclusion is key

It is critical that all sections of society get an equal opportunity to get the vaccine. As the President of the UN General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir has recently warned : "No one is safe until all are safe, and vaccines are the solution to this crisis."

Ensuring equal access does not only mean widening the net, but also being sensitive and responsive to the fears and concerns of citizens as well. Historically, the margins have suffered exclusions of service delivery, access to justice and economic opportunities. 

Hence, , there are strong concerns about what happens in the margins where millions who are historically disadvantaged, structurally marginalised, and politically disempowered reside. This is one instance where we cannot afford to fail again. 


Nahida Akter is  Research Associate, Centre for Peace and Justice, Brac University


Disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author based on her analysis of empirical findings and do not represent the position of any affiliated organisations. 

Top News

Covid-19 Vaccine / Vaccine Justice / Vaccination

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Infographics: TBS
    Lengthy legal road ahead to repatriate Saifuzzaman's wealth from UK
  • From fact-checker to fact-checked: CA Press Wing’s turn in the hot seat
    From fact-checker to fact-checked: CA Press Wing’s turn in the hot seat
  • Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner showing part of its registration "VT-ANB" in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Air India Dreamliner crashes into Ahmedabad college hostel, kills over 290

MOST VIEWED

  • Keir Starmer declines to meet CA Yunus: FT report
    Keir Starmer declines to meet CA Yunus: FT report
  • Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner showing part of its registration "VT-ANB" in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Air India Dreamliner crashes into Ahmedabad college hostel, kills over 290
  • Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. Photo: Collected
    UK crime agency now freezes assets of ex-land minister Saifuzzaman: AJ
  • File Photo of Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus: UNB
    Prof Yunus to receive Harmony Award from King Charles today
  • Infofgraphics: TBS
    DGHS issues 11-point directive to prevent spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh
  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Bangladesh mulls settlements with tycoons over offshore wealth: BB governor tells FT

Related News

  • 16% of Bangladeshi children still missing out on vaccination, experts warn
  • 16% children ‍still deprived of vaccination: Study
  • Dhaka airport issues vaccination guidelines for Hajj, Umrah pilgrims
  • 93% eligible girls get vaccinated against Human Papilloma Virus across Bangladesh
  • 'No vaccination without pay grade raise': Healthcare workers issue ultimatum

Features

Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

1d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

2d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

3d | Features
Photo collage shows political posters in Bagerhat. Photos: Jannatul Naym Pieal

From Sheikh Dynasty to sibling rivalry: Bagerhat signals a turning tide in local politics

5d | Bangladesh

More Videos from TBS

Banks' estimates were wrong: Bangladesh Bank spokesperson

Banks' estimates were wrong: Bangladesh Bank spokesperson

3h | Podcast
What exactly happened to the ill-fated Boeing aircraft?

What exactly happened to the ill-fated Boeing aircraft?

4h | TBS World
Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28

Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28

5h | TBS Insight
Curfew imposed for second night in Los Angeles

Curfew imposed for second night in Los Angeles

5h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net