DHAKA, – Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque today said a vested quarter is conspiring over COVID-19 vaccines to undermine government’s efforts for containing the spread of the deadly virus.
“A section of people are spreading rumour over COVID-19 vaccine… but people received COVID-19 vaccines spontaneously ignoring their rumors,” he told a discussion at the National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH) marking World Cancer Day, an official release said. Secretary of Health Service Division Abdul Mannan, Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, Secretary of Health and Population Affairs of Awami League Dr. Rokeya Sultana and President of Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad Dr Iqbal Arsenal, among others, addressed the discussion with NICRH Director Prof Dr Kazi Mushtaq Hossain in the chair.
All sorts of rumors have been proved false as all vaccine receivers are well, the health minister said. “Gradually people are showing their interest to get vaccines… as of February 4 (today), 1.5 lakh people have been registered online for receiving vaccines,” he added. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the COVID-19 vaccination campaign at Kurmitola General Hospital through videoconferencing from her official Ganabhaban residence on January 27.
The countrywide vaccination drive is set to begin on February 7, the health ministry said. The health ministry sources 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 possible vaccine recipients as per the priority list are 452,027 government health workers and approved 600,000 private health workers directly engaged in the Covid-19 health services.
The other priority groups includes – 210,000 freedom fighters, 546,620 members of the frontline law enforcement agencies, 360,913 members from the military and civil defense forces, 50,000 officials and employees working in the offices which are indispensable for governing the state, 50,000 frontline media personnel, 178,298 elected representatives, 150,000 frontline employees of the city corporations and pourasabhas, 541,000 religious representatives, 75,000 people engaged in funeral works, 400,000 staff engaged in emergency water, gas, sewerage, power, fire service and transport services.
Besides, 150,000 workers of land, river and air ports, 120,000 expatriate unskilled workers, 400,000 government employees engaged in district and upazila-level emergency public services, 197,621 officials and employees of banks, 625,000 low immunity people (tuberculosis, AIDS and cancer patients), 10,326,658 elderly people from the 64-79 age group, 1,312,973 elderly people from the 80-plus age group, 21,863 players of the national teams (including football, cricket and hockey national teams) and 170,000 people from buffer, emergency and outbreak groups are included in the list.
