Mission one crore: The reality of expectations

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday announced that the government have set a target to vaccinate one crore people in the second week of August which will be followed by vaccination of one crore people every month till the end of the year to boost the COVID-19 vaccination campaign across the country.

Bangladesh is among the countries which provide the lowest jabs for its population in South Asian countries. In this circumstance, such an announcement by the government surprises a lot of people, including the health experts.

There are several reasons, including lack of proper management of vaccine distribution, accessibility, and unawareness among people, which forced Bangladesh to be in the lower position in the list.

However, if the government succeed in executing their plan of inoculating such a vast number of people, the majority of the country’s population will be vaccinated by the next year.

But questions arise like is Bangladesh capable to vaccinate these huge numbers of people in one month or how can Bangladesh ramp up its vaccination capabilities within a very short time.

Bangladesh has now 5,576,411 doses of Sinopharm vaccine, 4,735,775 doses of Moderna vaccine, 1,393,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 50,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine as of August 2.

The country so far vaccinated around 1.34 crore people. Of them, 9,398,892 people received the first shot while around 4,367,929 citizens have completed both doses.

The government have purchased 30 million Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India and received only 7 million of it. Besides, Bangladesh received only 5 million Sinopharm vaccines of purchased 30 million. Notably, no Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have yet been received despite purchasing 5 million and 70 million respectively.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh on Saturday received the second consignment of 781,320 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from Japan under the Covax facility and is expected to receive the third consignment of 616,780 doses on Tuesday.

The health officials assured that more vaccines will arrive soon as per their contact to different countries and organizations.

In this regard, Professor Nazrul Islam, also a member of the National Technical Advisory Committee on COVID-19, said, “The number of vaccines Bangladesh so far received and scheduled to receive in the upcoming days was not sufficient compared to the country’s need.”

The government should play a more active role in supplying vaccines for the countrymen to achieve the goal set by them, he added.

He emphasized supplying the vaccines to the rural areas along with the urban areas for getting the actual benefits of the vaccination program to improve the overall situation of the country.

The government, however, planning to administer Sinopharm shots in rural areas while the Moderna vaccine will be available in urban areas. These vaccines have already started to reach the upazila health centers.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh is very close to signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China to jointly manufacture Sinopharm vaccines, said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Monday.

Health experts and concerned officials are optimistic to achieve the goal if it will be possible to manufacture the Sinopharm vaccines in the country within a very short time. In addition, it will boost the vaccination program and help Bangladesh to export vaccines by meeting up the country’s demand.