PM opens nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign
670
DHAKA, Jan 27, 2021 (BSS) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today opened the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign with a nurse and four other government officials being first recipients of the shots as frontline workers.
Kurmitola General Hospital (KGH) nurse Runu Veronica Costa became the first to receive the shot, virtually witnessed by the premier from her Ganabhaban official residence as Covid-19 inoculate consignments started reaching Bangladesh.
“You are not frightened, are you?” Sheikh Hasina said as a medical official prepared to inject her the inoculate at the state-run health facility which was one of the first designated COVID hospitals in the country.
Covid-19 vaccination programme, online registration to be inaugurated on Jan 27
Vials with a sticker reading, COVID-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed AstraZeneca logo in this illustration taken on October 31, 2020. Reuters file photo Star Online Report Star Online Report
The inaugural session for Covid-19 vaccination will be held at 3:30pm on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the event virtually.
Some 25 people will be vaccinated at the event. Honourable Prime Minister will inaugurate the event. She will also inaugurate the online registration process for vaccination at the same event, Prof Nasima Sultana, additional director general (administration) of the health directorate, told The Daily Star.
The government has almost completed the groundwork for rolling out Covid-19 vaccine in the country early next month.
It gears up for the mass inoculation campaign as the first consignment of 50 lakh doses, purchased from Serum Institute of India (SII), arrived in Dhaka yesterday.
Officials said five public hospitals in the capital were all set to pilot the vaccination. They also said the hospital authorities had already trained 124 healthcare professionals and prepared designated places, where the shots would be administered. The prime minister will inaugurate the piloting at Kurmitola General Hospital on January 27 [tomorrow] at 3:30pm, Prof Nasima Sultana, additional director general of DGHS, told The Daily Star yesterday.