Registrants to get SMS about vaccination date, centre from Saturday

Nationwide Covid-19 vaccinations are set to start on Sunday.

Over 2.45 lakh people registered for the jab till 5pm on Friday. The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Saturday will start sending text messages to registrants' cell phones to notify them about the vaccination dates and centres.

Professor Mizanur Rahman, director at Management Information System of the DGHS confirmed this to The Business Standard.

Those who get vaccinated on Sunday will receive an SMS on their mobile on Saturday morning, he said, adding all the registrants will get the message in a gradual process.

Ahead of the commencement of the countrywide novel coronavirus vaccination campaign on Sunday at 9am, the authorities have already sent the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine to all 64 districts of the country.

Abu Hussain Md Moinul Ahsan, Dhaka's civil surgeon, said they have completed preparations to conduct vaccination at 49 centers of the capital on the first day of the mass inoculation.

He mentioned that more than 300 teams will work at 30 centres in Dhaka north and 19 centres in Dhaka south.

Registration for the novel coronavirus vaccine began on 27 January via the surokkha.gov.bd website. It was announced that the app version of it would be available in the Google Play Store by 4 February, but it is yet not available.

The DGHS said if anyone faces a problem registering themselves, they can go to the designated centres and register in person.

Professor Nasima Sultana, additional directorate general of the DGHS, on Friday told the media that people who register for the jab at a vaccination centre might not get the vaccine on the day of registering. In that case, they might get the vaccine a day or two later, she added.

Bangladesh currently has a stock of 70 lakh doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The government had planned to vaccinate 60 lakh people in the first month of the vaccination programme. It also planned to give a second dose of the vaccine eight weeks after the first dose.

However, the government has moved away from this plan. Now 35 lakh people will be vaccinated in the first month, while the second dose will be given four weeks after the first dose of the vaccine, said Nasima Sultana.

Twenty-six people were vaccinated against the novel coronavirus after the prime minister inaugurated the programme at Kurmitola Hospital in the capital on 27 January. The following day, 541 people were given the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in five hospitals in Dhaka.

The DGHS said all who were vaccinated on the first run of the vaccination are in good health.

One vaccination centre in Chattogram on first day

Even though 15 centres have been designated for vaccinations in Chattogram, vaccination will only be conducted at the Chittagong Medical College (CMC) on the first day. The programme will be held in four booths on the fourth floor of the hospital.

The hospital authorities said overall preparations have already been completed to this end.

CMC Director Brigadier General SM Humayun Kabir said the vaccination programme will be inaugurated at four booths of the hospital, with four people being vaccinated simultaneously.

According to data provided by the hospital administration, Deputy Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel will be among the first four persons to get the shot at the CMC.

The other three on the list of the first vaccine recipients are CMC Director Humayun Kabir, Divisional Health Director Dr Hasan Shahriar Kabir and Chittagong City Corporation's Chief Health Officer Selim Akhtar Chowdhury.

On the first day, at least 100 doctors, other health workers and other people – included on the priority list – will be vaccinated in Chattogram, the CMC director said, adding that 10 teams have been formed for the vaccination programme.