Health authorities in Bangladesh will face immense pressure if the government does not increase the number of Covid-19 vaccination centres soon, according to health experts.
Failure to increase the number of centres will result in suffering for the common people, they added.
Prof Nazrul Islam, member of the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19, said: “We have already noticed the rising trend in people signing up for the Covid-19 vaccine and recommended that the government increase the number of vaccination centres.
“It [increasing centres] will be done, as far as I am aware,” he added.
According to the inoculation plan of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), around 150,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will be dispensed every day through 50 hospitals in Dhaka and 1,005 outside the capital.
When the nationwide vaccination drive got underway on February 7, only people aged 55 or above were allowed to register for the vaccine. The number of vaccine seekers and pressure on health authorities increased significantly when the government opened registration for people aged over 40 on Tuesday.
Dr Mohammad Mushtuq Husain, adviser at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), said people are also being motivated to take the vaccine after seeing eminent politicians, cabinet members and senior citizens get the shot.
“We had initially planned to administer 300,000 doses every day, but halved the goal due to lack of public interest. However, since the situation appears to be changing, we should revert to the original plan,” he added.
Bangladesh has the capacity to inoculate 500,000-600,000 people every day, according to the DGHS.
“Many centres remain idle as most people only choose the popular centres. We suggested that the government operate 300 vaccination centres in Dhaka and urge people to take vaccines at the centres closest to them,” Mushtuq said.
Health authorities had vaccinated as many as 542,309 people against Covid-19 till Thursday, according to data provided by the Management Information System of the DGHS.
No fewer than 1.37 million people had signed up to receive the Covid-19 vaccine as of Friday evening.
