The fifth day of mass vaccination in Dhaka once again drew a massive turnout, but rain soon thinned out the crowds.
Ahsan Habib had been standing in a queue for the vaccine at Shahbagh’s Nabab Habibullah Road centre under Dhaka South City Corporation since early Wednesday.
“I was not sure whether I would get the jab. The queue was long since the morning, and I thought I would not get a chance. Now, I have some hope as many people have left the queue due to the rain,” he told this correspondent at 12 noon
“Markets are now open and I urgently need the vaccine, as I am a shopkeeper,” he added.
Shahin Alam, another vaccine seeker, said he was also unsure of getting the vaccine as the centres had a daily vaccine limit of 350 doses only.
Businessman Walid Hossain was in a queue in front of Mohammadpur Government Primary School from 10pm on Tuesday to get the vaccine on Wednesday.
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“As per my doctor’s suggestion, I obviously need the vaccine. I was in the queue from 2:30am to get a jab on Tuesday, but I still could not get it. That is why I waited from the previous day,” he said.
According to the mass vaccination campaign schedule, vaccine doses are administered from 9am to 3pm.
Brigadier General Md Zobaidur Rahman, chief health officer of Dhaka North City Corporation, told this newspaper that the DNCC would run the walk-in campaign till Thursday.
“Although I had given a requisition for 150,000 doses for the campaign, DNCC got 120,000 doses. In 54 centres at 54 wards of DNCC, as well as four extra centres, we have been administering the full 350 doses a day. We are happy to see the public response,” he added.
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“Every day, people start waiting in queues from the early morning. Those who got the doses were happy, while others were unhappy as we could not provide more than 350 doses in a day. This is a reality,” he said.
“We are ready to continue a full-fledged mass vaccination as the trial-run (mass vaccination campaign) was quite successful in terms of administering the doses,” he further said.
Bangladesh launched the six-day mass vaccination campaign on Saturday.
According to the DGHS, almost five million doses were given in the four days till Tuesday, including the spot registration (walk-in vaccination campaign) and prior registration via the Surokkha website or app.
Meanwhile, the government decided to suspend administering the first dose of the Moderna vaccine from last Thursday, and to start administering the second doses of the vaccine.
Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Line Director Dr Mohammad Robed Amin said on Wednesday that sufficient Moderna and Sinophram Covid-19 vaccines were in stock for the second dose.
