Coronavirus Vaccine: Vaccination Program Turning Into a Deep Crisis!

Although the second dose of coronavirus vaccine is scheduled to start from April 6, Bangladesh is facing a crisis in getting a new vaccine. Even at the moment, the health department does not have enough vaccines to give a second dose to everyone who gets the first dose.

Concerns have been heightened after the country imposed a temporary ban on the export of Indian-made Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines.

In the last three months since January, 1.5 crore doses have been included in the vaccine purchased from Bangladesh, but as per the health department, less than half of the vaccine has been received by Bangladesh so far.

Bangladesh's Health Minister Zahid Malek, recently hinted that they would "make another plan" if the vaccine did not arrive in time from the Seram Institute.

However, the reality is that Bangladesh has not yet reached a formal agreement on vaccination from any source other than the Seram Institute.

In such a situation, if the Seram Institute fails to vaccinate according to the agreement, the Department of Health of Bangladesh will administer the corona vaccine. There are fears that it could fall into a deep crisis.

However, health officials say diplomatic efforts are underway and they hope to get the vaccines on time as needed.

"There is nothing to worry about vaccination. Work is going on. Bangladesh will get vaccinated on time. So there will be no crisis," Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the health department, told BBC Bangla.

"The first dose will be temporarily stopped before the second dose is given. The second dose will ensure a new vaccination. Then the vaccination will start again. There is no risk of a crisis."

Although the second dose of vaccine is scheduled to start on April 6, it is yet to be finalized when the first dose will be discontinued.

If the first dose is stopped again, many people who have registered for the vaccine will not be vaccinated.

How many vaccines have come, how many vaccines are there, how many vaccines will come

Vaccination against coronavirus officially started on January 26 in Bangladesh. Later, public vaccination started from February 8.

The government has decided to take an eight-week break for the second dose of vaccine after the first dose, and the second dose should start on April 8.

In the case of vaccination, the plan was to bring a total of 30 million doses of vaccine in five months at a rate of 5 million doses per month.

As per the health department, a total of 52 lakh 83 thousand 246 people have been vaccinated in Bangladesh till noon on March 29. 6 lakh 37 thousand 990 people have registered.

On the other hand, 12 million doses of vaccine have reached Bangladesh so far, out of which 32 lakh doses were received as gifts from the Government of India.

According to the agreement between Beximco and Serum Institute, out of the 30 million doses, 5 million were received on January 25 and 2 million on February 23.

Now that India has suspended exports, there is widespread uncertainty about when the rest of the vaccine will come.

Dr Mushtaq Hossain, IEDCR's consultant, said: "There is uncertainty about vaccination but it is a global problem. It will not be a big problem for Bangladesh. Will come. "

Earlier, in an online press conference on Monday, Additional Director General of the Department of Health and Chair of the Vaccine Deployment Committee, Prof. Dr. Mirzadi Sebrina Flora said the second dose vaccine is safe for those who have taken the first dose, although not for everyone.

"It's not really a second-dose vaccine for everyone. But when we start working, we're working to make the vaccine come," he said.

He said that there are 4.2 million doses in stock at the moment and he hopes that they will get some vaccines next month on the basis of which everyone (taking the first dose) will be given the second dose.

For all these reasons, the question arises that if the new vaccine does not come even after the start of the second dose, what will be the situation?

At a function at the Heart Institute on Monday, the health minister, however, said they would take other plans if they did not get the vaccine in time from the Seram Institute.

Although he did not give any details about that plan.

"We have not received the vaccine this month. The Prime Minister has told the Prime Minister of India about the vaccine. If it is too late to get the vaccine, we have to make other plans," the minister said.

Questions about Vaccine management

Benazir Ahmed, a former director of the health department, told the BBC:

Mr. Ahmed said even two million doses of the vaccine could not be completed in three months, but now the vaccine resources are under threat.

"Given the situation with vaccines, the chances of dealing with the infection through vaccination will be threatened."

Benazir Bhutto says, "All in all, this crisis is centered around vaccination. But no one has an answer on how to deal with the crisis."