Health care professionals working at the government Covid-19 treatment facilities will be first in line to get the vaccine acquired from the Serum Institute of India in January, as they are the ones most exposed to the deadly virus.
In phase one of the vaccination efforts, the government has introduced 10 categories to identify vaccine candidates. Healthcare professionals, people exposed to infection, people aged 60 or above and those who are aged under 60 with comorbidities will get vaccine doses on a priority basis.
Recipients of the vaccine will be selected as per a guideline that has been formulated following the recommendations of the WHO and other leading communicable disease control organizations.
Vaccination activities will be implemented under the Maternal, Neonatal, Child, and Adolescent Health (MNC & AH) Program of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
“As physicians, healthcare professionals and staff members at Covid-19 dedicated facilities come in direct contact with patients infected with the virus, they will get the vaccine first,” said Dr Shamsul Haque, line director of the program.
“This will ensure the continuation of treatment, as those providing healthcare will become immune to the virus. After that, field-level health workers, staff members, the elderly and people with comorbidities will be vaccinated. The frontline fighters in the ongoing Covid-19 crisis will get priority,” he added.
Countries begin vaccination programs
Last week, a UK grandmother named Margaret Keenan, aged around 91, became the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine as part of a mass vaccination program.
Canada started administering doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, with elderly people and frontline workers among the first to receive shots. The US has also started its vaccination activities by administering it to a nurse on December 15.
Neighbouring India is also planning to start their vaccination initiatives with healthcare professionals at the top of the list.
DGHS to lead Bangladesh’s vaccine efforts
According to DGHS, the groups or professionals listed by the Covid-19 Vaccine Management Taskforce are health care professionals at government treatment facilities, private sector health workers, police officials (primarily those working at root level such as traffic constables), administration officials - civil surgeons, deputy commissioners, ministry officials, public representatives, freedom fighters, journalists and most importantly the elders (people aged 60 and above).
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Dr Habibur Rahman, director of DGHS’s Management Information System (MIS) said: “I am not sure about public representatives being included in the vaccination list. Those who are exposed to the deadly virus will get the vaccine on a priority basis.”
Dr Shamsul said public representatives may be under consideration for vaccine priority as some of them must be in regular physical contact with the public for relief distribution and other work.
When asked about the distribution of the vaccine, he said: “We have just asked the country’s civil surgeons to send a list of healthcare professionals, including field workers, from their respective districts. Once the lists arrive, we will confirm how many vaccines will be provided to other professionals or any other groups.”
3 more professions under consideration for first phase
MIS Director Dr Habibur Rahman said they are actively considering the inclusion of transport workers – drivers, helpers, and conductors – in the list for the first phase of the vaccination, as more lockdowns are highly unlikely.
Line Director of MNC & AH Program Dr Shamsul Haque said: “People like cleaners and garbage collectors, people who go door to door and are on the roads most of the time, we don’t want them to become carriers of the virus.
“Besides, we are strongly considering the inclusion of expatriates in the list as many countries are now demanding their migrant workers to have vaccine shots. So, we are thinking of keeping a door open for them as well,” he added.
How will the vaccine be administered?
Each recipient will have to get two doses of the vaccine, keeping a minimum gap of 28 days or more in between the shots. The vaccine will be administered intramuscularly.
According to the DGHS, the doses will be stored in the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) cold chain management plants throughout the 64 districts. DGHS will also create a database of the people who will get the Covid-19 vaccine, said the sources from the directorate.
EPI's 26,000 health assistants and other health workers will carry out the vaccination program. Some 10,400 groups of volunteers will work along with health assistants and other health workers throughout the country. They will work three days a week and every volunteer will get Tk200 every day as an allowance.
“These volunteers will be tasked with monitoring social distancing at the centres. We have allotted Tk89.85,60,000 to be distributed as daily allowance,” Dr Shamsul informed.
“We have identified over 6,000 centres for vaccination activities at union parishad offices, health care facilities at unions, upazilas, districts, and medical college hospitals. Besides, we are thinking of selecting some schools for this as well,” he added.
He also said: “Deployment of teams – that will carry out the vaccination initiatives – will depend on the population under a centre’s jurisdiction. We want a team to administer at least 100 doses per session of the vaccination effort.”
