Reza Mahmud :
New hopes arise in the beginning of the new year of 2021 to defeat Covid-19 pandemic through vaccinisation of the people of Bangladesh.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque said, Bangladesh will get the first phase of the 50 lakh doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in mid January or early February.
The Ministry is well prepared with lots of trained and experienced manpower to propel the vaccination programme among the people.
Bangladesh has been waiting for the approval of the Oxford jab from the developed country like the UK.
The good news has been aired by this time that the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved the vaccine.
To this, sources said, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) will seek approval for Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine from the Drug Administration soon.
Health experts in Bangladesh on Thursday termed the approval for Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in the UK as ‘good news’ and said that the approval paved the way of vaccine’s rollout in the country.
On 13 December, an agreement was signed for procurement of three crore Covid-19 vaccine doses developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.
UK and the other sources said the Oxford vaccine is more than 70 per cent effective and safer to carry and preservation. The vaccine will be free for the people while the government will bear its costs.
“It will be easier for us to get the Oxford vaccine as the jab got approval in the UK. We hope this vaccine will be safe for us. The UK, a well developed country, has approved it for using it to eliminate the pandemic,” said Professor Dr. M. Muzaherul Huq, former Advisor of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Official sources of the Health Ministry said that every preparation of vaccinising the people has been taken.
Director General of the Department of Health, Professor Dr. Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam said, everything which is necessary for vaccination of Covid-19 vaccine has been arranged.
Cold Chain Equipment to preserve vaccines, Eddie Syringe, Safety Box, AEFI Kit Box, AEFI Forms, Surgical Masks, Pointing Materials, Ice Pack, Vaccine Carrier, Ice Liner Refrigerator, Pushing Fridge indicator, Fridge tag, etc have been arranged.
He said several materials of those have been collected and demand notes have been sent for collecting the rests.
He said the department has arranged trainings for the staff who will be involved with the vaccination programme to eliminate coronavirus from the country.
The DG said, “We have experience of vaccination of about 3.5 crore people every year. So that, it will not be hard for us to vaccinate 50 lakh or more people in a month.”
Sources said, Beximco Pharmaceuticals will send those vaccines in district level as per the agreement of the procurement.
Then the Health Department will carry those jabs to upazila level.
Dr. Khurshid Alam said that they have sufficient carriers to carry vaccines in root levels.
Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Programme of the Department of Health will conduct the vaccination programme.
“We have forged about 10,600 teams and six persons will be in every team to conduct the inoculation programme,” said Dr. Shamsul Huq, Director of the programme.
