ZCZC
BSS-37
COVID-19-VACCINATION-DRIVE
Covid-19 vaccination drive begins tomorrow
DHAKA, Jan 26, 2021 (BSS) – The vaccination campaign against the novel
coronavirus will begin tomorrow in Bangladesh as 25 people will be
administered on the first day.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the vaccination programme at
Kurmitola General Hospital here through videoconference from her official
Ganabhaban residence at 3.30pm tomorrow.
The drive will begin with vaccinating a nurse at first while a total of 20
to 25 persons (frontline Covid-19 fighters including physicians, nurses,
health workers, members of law enforcement agencies, army and journalists)
will be inoculated on the first day.
On January 28, vaccines will be given at five centers including
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) and Dhaka Medical College
Hospital (DMCH) in Dhaka.
Concerned units have already taken preparation to vaccinate people and
required trainings have been imparted to physicians and nurses.
Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) sources said Kurmitola
General Hospital took all-out preparation for launching the vaccination
drive.
“We have taken all-out preparations, prepared initial lists and places for
vaccination,” BSMMU Director Brigadier General Dr Zulfiquer Ahmed Amin told
BSS.
Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr
Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam said around 500 to 600 medical
professionals of five hospitals — Kurmitola General Hospital, Kuwait
Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital, Mugda Medical College, Hospital
and Dhaka Medical College Hospital Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical
University (BSMMU) — will be given these vaccines ahead of launching the
countrywide drive.
They (vaccine receivers) will be observed for seven days. “After
completing seven-day observation, other listed people will be vaccinated
during the nationwide vaccinations campaign,” Khurshid Alam said.
The countrywide vaccination drive is set to begin on February 7, the
health ministry said.
Bangladesh received its first ever COVID-19 vaccine consignment on January
21 (Thursday) as India sent 20 lakh doses of vaccine developed by the
University of Oxford and AstraZeneca as gift.
The first consignment of COVID-19 50 lakh Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines
purchased by the government landed in Dhaka on January 25.
The total vaccine doses stand at 70 lakh doses now. The government has
taken all necessary preparations for distribution and preservation of these
70 lakh doses of vaccine, it added.
BSS/MJ/MKD/MMR/ARS/1958 hrs