It is very encouraging to see that Bangladesh has made it to the list of countries meeting the vaccination targets set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Only last September, Bangladesh was categorized as a country not on track for the vaccine target, so this swift turnaround is a testament to the stellar work the authorities have been doing, and they rightfully deserve credit for it.
Indeed, vaccination did not start well for Bangladesh, and earlier last year, we saw a halt in administering shots as a result of shortages. However, credit must once again be given to the authorities for recognizing the errors made, and learning from those errors, procuring vaccines from a wider variety of sources, and prioritizing awareness campaigns to educate the people about the vaccine’s importance.
Dividends from vaccinating the population are already being felt, for while our infection rates and total daily infections are high, our death rates are much lower than that during previous waves, once again proving that vaccinating saves lives and that everyone should be getting a shot.
While we appear to now be on the right track, it is evident now more than ever with the recent exponential rise in infections as a result of the omicron variant of the virus that remaining pro-active is the only way to keep up with a virus that continues to mutate and change forms. As such, the only option is to continue to vaccinate the population and ensure that we do indeed hit the target, and then keep going until we well and truly defeat this virus and end the pandemic.