bdnews24.com :
For thousands of Bangladeshis who are stranded far away from their vaccination centres, the total lockdown has thrown the ongoing second round of coronavirus vaccine doses into uncertainty.
According to data released by the government, over 5.67 million people took their first doses as of Tuesday.
Two months after the first dose was given, the health directorate has now been into its second-dosing phase of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine since Apr 8.
So far, more than 733,000 people have been injected with the second dose.
The government, however, enforced some lockdown restrictions on Apr 5, banning long-route bus services. The country entered into a stricter lockdown on Wednesday with the coronavirus cases and fatalities soaring.
The government has banned all public movements barring emergencies amid this complete lockdown.
Abdul Hamid, who works at a private company in Mirpur, said he received his first dose in Chuadanga in February. He arrived at his workplace after taking the dose but could not return due to the partial lockdown enforced on Apr 5.
He said he was supposed to receive his second dose on Apr 11 but failed to get fully vaccinated.
Heath workers at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in Dhaka are busy inoculating people with the second dose of the Oxford vaccine on Monday, Apr 12, 2021. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi
“After giving the first dose, the health workers there told me that I’ll be able to receive the second dose in Dhaka. But I found out that it was not the case.
“The second dose must be administered where the first dose was received. Now I can only take it on my return during Eid,” Hamid said. Public servant Nirmal Chandra Kar took his first dose on Feb 16 in Barishal where he had gone for some days to attend to family matters.
While awaiting an SMS confirming the date to receive the second dose, he remains sceptical whether it will be possible for him to return amid the lockdown which will end on Apr 21.
“We don’t know whether it’ll be extended further. It’s not possible to return to Barishal now even if I want to.”
“There should have been an alternative. The issue could have been resolved by keeping provisions to change centres in special cases,” Nirmal said.
Monira Hasan, a resident of Mirpur, said her parents took their first COVID-19 shots in Khulna and recently arrived in Dhaka. The lockdown from Apr 5 put their second dose on Apr 16 in doubt.
She said that she called up the hotline of the Directorate General of Health Services to consult whether the second dose can be received in Dhaka. They confirmed that both the shots must be taken from the same centre.
“They advised us to go back to our district for the doses even if it means delaying the shots,” she said. Monira finally rented a private car to send her parents back home.
Dr Md Shamsul Haque, a line director at the DGHS, however, insisted that the second doses can be taken in centres other than the ones where the first shot was administered due to the lockdown.
If people are stranded at some other places due to the lockdown after taking the first dose, they can take their second shot where they are currently located, he added.
A man receives his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in Dhaka on Monday, Apr 12, 2021. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi
The vaccine-seekers must show the SMS confirmation and vaccine cards for the second dose.
“The first thing is that they will receive a message. The message and vaccine card will state that they have taken the first dose. Let’s say I arrived in Cumilla during my second dosage and I can’t return due to the lockdown. If the authority is requested to give the second dose, they will comply,” Shamsul said.
But an information officer named “Javed” said through the national health helpline 16263 that the second dose has to be received where the first dose was taken.
Meerjady Sabrina Flora, an additional director general of health services, advised people not to worry. She said the second dose can be taken anytime between eight and 12 weeks from the first dose.
The government is administering the first and second doses of the vaccine, COVISHIELD, with an eight-week gap.
