The health directorate has come up with an alternative for the people who are unable to get their second dose of Covid-19 vaccine from the hospital or vaccine centre where they received the first jab.
In a letter issued under the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) on Wednesday, the directorate said the decision was taken as many were failing to receive the second shot of the vaccine due to various reasons.
It listed five hospitals and vaccine centres in Dhaka under the two city corporations where one will be able to get the second dose under such circumstances.
They are Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital; National Institute of Kidney Diseases and Urology (NIKDU); National Institute of Ear, Nose and Throat; Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery (SHNIBPS); Mugda Medical College Hospital.
Outside of capital city, people facing the same problem can go to the vaccine centres at all state-run medical college hospitals, district sadar hospitals or the upazila health complexes to get the second dose.
This option, however, would not applicable if anyone simply wants to change their designated vaccine centre in the same district or city corporation, said the letter, signed by Covid-19 Vaccine Management Taskforce Member Secretary Dr Shamsul Haque.
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One will have to show their vaccination card to get the second shot and get its QR code scanned to have their information updated on the Surokkha website, which is the country’s Covid-19 vaccine registration server.
The notification also urged the authorities concerned to immediately update all the necessary data related to vaccination on Surokkha website.
Earlier, the health authorities had strictly maintained that a person will have to get their second vaccine dose from the centre they got the first one.
But many have been struggling to get the second dose on time because of the lockdown, restrictions on public movement, and other reasons that landed them in another district or far away from the vaccination centre where they got the first jab.
Sources at the health directorate said as the chances of getting the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, Covidshield, is getting slimmer and the country is getting vaccine from other sources, the authorities are trying to provide people the second dose as early as possible to ensure proper vaccination management.
The letter has been sent to the concerned director of DGHS, director (hospitals), chief health officers of every city corporation, supervisor (district hospital) and upazila health officers.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), until Thursday afternoon, 5,819,646 people received the first dose of the vaccine around the country.
Also, so far, a total of 2,698,155 people have received the second dose.
The nationwide inoculation had started on January 27. The authorities started giving the second dose from April 8.