News Desk :
Bangladesh’s anticipation for the coronavirus vaccine drive is about to end with the planned inoculation of a nurse at the Kurmitola General Hospital in Dhaka on Jan 27, reports bdnews24.com
Another 24 individuals, including frontline health workers, freedom fighters, teachers, doctors and journalists, will also be vaccinated that day.
Health Secretary Abdul Mannan has said that five hospitals in Dhaka will begin an initial inoculation process of 400-500 people the following day and the nationwide vaccination programme will kick off on Feb 8.
The Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Kurmitola General Hospital, Mugda General Hospital, Kuwait-Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University will administer the initial vaccine shots in the capital.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services, COVID vaccine doses will be distributed as per a guideline prepared by the government. Some changes may be made if the situation calls for it.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque visited on Sunday, Dec 27, 2020 the DGDA lab set up for testing medicines and vaccines in Dhaka’s Mohakhali. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove
Initially, Bangladesh was supposed to administer five million doses in the first month of immunisation, the shipment of two million free doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India altered the plan, Director General of Health Services Dr ABM Khurshid Alam said.
Bangladesh will now roll out six million doses in the first month and five million doses in the second.
In the third month, six million people will get their second doses of the vaccine, Alam said.
The two million doses which India shipped as a gift are preserved in Tejgaon’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation or EPI storage, while the 30 million imported doses will arrive via Beximco Pharmaceuticals across six months.
Beximco will store the purchased doses at its warehouse and send them to district-level authorities in six phases.
Nazmul Hassan, managing director of Beximco Pharma, earlier said that they purchased seven special trucks to transport the vaccines around the country, while more were on their way.
The DGHS will be in charge of distributing the vaccines to Upazila level after the EPI receives and stores the drugs in their storages in the 64 districts. From there, the doses will be transmitted to 483 Upazila-level storages.
The vaccines will be preserved in ice-lined refrigerators in EPI storages. For transportation to the Upazila-level facilities, the authorities will use cold boxes.
Shamsul Haque, a director of DGHS, said they have several thousand of cold boxes, so there will be no need for special trucks.
The government plans to inoculate 80 percent of the country’s population, or around 138.24 million people.
According to the national COVID vaccine distribution and preparation plan, the doses will be administered in five stages.
In the first stage of the initial phase, 3 percent of the population will be vaccinated, while 7 percent will go through immunisation in the second stage. Then in the second phase, 11.2 percent will be inoculated.
In the first stage of the third phase, 21.4 percent will be jabbed with two doses before another 41.8 percent of the population is immunised in the last stage.
As many as 452,027 doctors, nurses and other health workers at government facilities will get the vaccine first.
Around 600,000 health workers of the private facilities will also get the vaccine in the first phase.
The priority list also includes 210,000 freedom fighters, 180,457 members of the military and civil defence forces, 25,000 government employees essential in running the state, 25,000 journalists, 89,149 public representatives, 75,000 officials and other employees of city corporations and municipalities, and 37,500 funeral workers will get the vaccine doses in the first month.
The others who will get the vaccine in the first month include 200,000 workers of the utilities, sewerage services, fire service and airports, 75,000 of the ports, 60,000 unskilled expatriate workers, 200,000 government staffers engaged in emergency work at districts and Upazilas, and 10,932 from the national sports teams.
The government will keep aside 70,000 doses as buffer stock for emergency or to tackle sudden outbreak.
Bangladesh’s anticipation for the coronavirus vaccine drive is about to end with the planned inoculation of a nurse at the Kurmitola General Hospital in Dhaka on Jan 27, reports bdnews24.com
Another 24 individuals, including frontline health workers, freedom fighters, teachers, doctors and journalists, will also be vaccinated that day.
Health Secretary Abdul Mannan has said that five hospitals in Dhaka will begin an initial inoculation process of 400-500 people the following day and the nationwide vaccination programme will kick off on Feb 8.
The Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Kurmitola General Hospital, Mugda General Hospital, Kuwait-Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University will administer the initial vaccine shots in the capital.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services, COVID vaccine doses will be distributed as per a guideline prepared by the government. Some changes may be made if the situation calls for it.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque visited on Sunday, Dec 27, 2020 the DGDA lab set up for testing medicines and vaccines in Dhaka’s Mohakhali. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove
Initially, Bangladesh was supposed to administer five million doses in the first month of immunisation, the shipment of two million free doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India altered the plan, Director General of Health Services Dr ABM Khurshid Alam said.
Bangladesh will now roll out six million doses in the first month and five million doses in the second.
In the third month, six million people will get their second doses of the vaccine, Alam said.
The two million doses which India shipped as a gift are preserved in Tejgaon’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation or EPI storage, while the 30 million imported doses will arrive via Beximco Pharmaceuticals across six months.
Beximco will store the purchased doses at its warehouse and send them to district-level authorities in six phases.
Nazmul Hassan, managing director of Beximco Pharma, earlier said that they purchased seven special trucks to transport the vaccines around the country, while more were on their way.
The DGHS will be in charge of distributing the vaccines to Upazila level after the EPI receives and stores the drugs in their storages in the 64 districts. From there, the doses will be transmitted to 483 Upazila-level storages.
The vaccines will be preserved in ice-lined refrigerators in EPI storages. For transportation to the Upazila-level facilities, the authorities will use cold boxes.
Shamsul Haque, a director of DGHS, said they have several thousand of cold boxes, so there will be no need for special trucks.
The government plans to inoculate 80 percent of the country’s population, or around 138.24 million people.
According to the national COVID vaccine distribution and preparation plan, the doses will be administered in five stages.
In the first stage of the initial phase, 3 percent of the population will be vaccinated, while 7 percent will go through immunisation in the second stage. Then in the second phase, 11.2 percent will be inoculated.
In the first stage of the third phase, 21.4 percent will be jabbed with two doses before another 41.8 percent of the population is immunised in the last stage.
As many as 452,027 doctors, nurses and other health workers at government facilities will get the vaccine first.
Around 600,000 health workers of the private facilities will also get the vaccine in the first phase.
The priority list also includes 210,000 freedom fighters, 180,457 members of the military and civil defence forces, 25,000 government employees essential in running the state, 25,000 journalists, 89,149 public representatives, 75,000 officials and other employees of city corporations and municipalities, and 37,500 funeral workers will get the vaccine doses in the first month.
The others who will get the vaccine in the first month include 200,000 workers of the utilities, sewerage services, fire service and airports, 75,000 of the ports, 60,000 unskilled expatriate workers, 200,000 government staffers engaged in emergency work at districts and Upazilas, and 10,932 from the national sports teams.
The government will keep aside 70,000 doses as buffer stock for emergency or to tackle sudden outbreak.
