Students of Qawmi madrasas and those belonging to the country’s floating population are set to be brought under the Covid-19 vaccine net from Sunday.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) took the decision to expand the vaccine net in an attempt to meet its target of vaccinating everybody over the age of 12 in the country.
After inspecting a student vaccination centre at a school in Dhaka, DGHS Vaccine Deployment Committee Member Secretary Dr Shamsul Haque announced the expansion of the vaccine program and reiterated the government’s commitment to vaccinating 70% of the population.
“We tried to start the vaccination program with a strategy and are including more people in phases. We are doing all this to bring the target population under vaccination in the country,” he added.
The vaccination of Qawmi madrasa students will begin from 9am, while the homeless people will be vaccinated from 7pm.
Students of Jamia Siddiqia Nurani Mohila Madrasa in Mirpur will be the first to get the vaccines on Sunday, while the vaccination of floating people will begin at Kamalapur Railway station.
“We estimate that the health authorities will have to inoculate three million Qawmi madrasa students aged 12-17,” he said.
The homeless population in the capital is estimated to number 285,000, while the total homeless population of the country is about 400,000, Dr Shamsul Haque added.
The vaccination campaigns of both Qawmi madrasa students and homeless people will be expanded nationwide after their inauguration in the capital.
The homeless population will receive the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Covid-19 vaccine, which requires only a single dose. Qawmi madrasa students will receive Pfizer jabs, like other students.
Dr Shamsul Haque confirmed that 600k doses of the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine were in stock. The total stock of vaccines in the country was over 100 million doses.
According to the DGHS, over 14.1million students have received the first dose, while 2.55million among them have received two doses. The government has been prioritising the vaccination of students in order to have educational institutions safely reopened.
When asked if the Qawmi madrasa authorities had shown any hesitation regarding the vaccination of students, Dr Shamsul Haque said all top officials of the largest Qawmi madrasas were eager to inoculate their students.
“Almost all the madrassa teachers have received the vaccine, and they want their students to also get the vaccine,” he added.
DGHS teaming up with local administration, NGOs to inoculate floating population
The campaign to inoculate floating people will be coordinated by Brac with help from several NGOs.
Dr Shamsul Haque said the DGHS had spoken with the two Dhaka city mayors, who had said their ward councillors would help set up the vaccination centres.
Besides, the authorities have already written to local district administrations and instructed them to take special measures to inoculate floating people in their districts.
“We are taking different approaches to vaccinate more people, especially those who have been left behind by the program,” the member secretary said.
The health authorities are planning to inoculate workers at brickfields, shanties, fishing villages, small industries and factories.
The authorities have also received reports that 70-80% of workers at tea gardens have already received the Covid-19 vaccine.
“We are speaking with local shops and small food owner associations so that they send their employees to get the vaccine. We will take help from the local administration in this regard as well,” Dr Shamsul Haque added.
He said a vaccine team would go to Dublar char and stay for five days to vaccinate the local people soon.
