Mass inoculations programme of Covid-19 across the country will start on February 7 with seven million vaccine doses in stock.
Besides, vaccination in limited scale among frontline health workers will begin at Kurmitola General Hospital at 3:30pm on Wednesday. About 25 health workers will be inoculated at the very beginning in the hospital.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the programme through video conference from her office.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque announced it on Tuesday after inspecting the preparations of the hospital.
As the first vaccine recipient in Bangladesh, Senior staff nurse of the hospital, Runu Berunika Costa will take the jab. She is In- Charge of the dialysis unit of Kurmitola Hospital.
After Runu Berunika Costa, Munni Khatun, in-charge and senior staff nurse of the female medicine unit and nurse Rina Sarkar of the same unit will take the vaccine. At the same time three more doctors will also be vaccinated on this day.
Sources said, after the inauguration, vaccination will start January 28 in five from more hospitals in Dhaka.
About 400 to 500 people will be vaccinated at Kurmitola General Hospital, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Mugda General Hospital, Kuwait Friendship Hospital and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.
After keeping them under observation for a week, vaccination will start across the country from February 7.
Zahid Maleque also visited the vaccination centers at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University. The health minister said that soon after the inauguration the app, Surokkha, and also the website, www.surokkha.gov.bd, will be launched to register people for getting the vaccine.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Drug Administration approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines for use in Bangladesh on Tuesday.
The nationwide vaccination program was scheduled to start after giving the inoculations to about 400-500 people in Dhaka and a week of observation.
Health workers, freedom fighters, law enforcement agencies, Army and other forces, journalists, government officials, public representatives, employees of city corporations and municipalities, and religious leaders will get the shots initially.
Sources from the health ministry said, that the government has prepared the plan for vaccinating people with a target to give two doses of jabs to each of over 130 million people to eliminate the fatal virus.
As per the plan, a total of 138,247,000 people will be vaccinated in five stages.
Five million doses of Oxford- AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine arrived in Dhaka on Monday.
Earlier two million doses of the vaccine also arrived on Thursday as gift from the Indian government.
Health minister said that five more batches – each containing five million vaccines – are scheduled to arrive in phases for five months.
The vaccine doses called AZD1222 under SII’s brand name Covishield – are stored at Tongi, a warehouses of Beximco Pharma, which is the exclusive distributor of the vaccine.
DGDA clears Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for use: The Directorate General of Drug Administration approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines for use in Bangladesh on Tuesday.
The drug administration on Tuesday issued a lot release certificate to the five million vaccines manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
“Now the vaccine is ready for use,” DGDA Director General Major General Md Mahbubur Rahman said at a press conference.
On November 5 last year, the Bangladesh government, India’s Serum Institute, and Beximco had signed an agreement to import 30 million doses of vaccines developed by Oxford University and British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.
According to the agreement, SII would deliver over a period of six months with five million a month.
The vaccines will be handed over to the government by Wednesday for distribution among the district and upazila-level cold storages under the health directorate’s EPI (Expanded Program on Immunization) as per the Health Ministry’s deployment plan.
In the press conference, the drug administration chief said they could not issue another lot release certificate of two million vaccines as the Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) was yet to submit required documents.
The CMSD was asked to submit the relevant papers in this regard, he added.
