The government has decided to start Covid-19 vaccination programmes at the union level to control the infection rate after being successfully starting Covid-19 vaccination at upazila level. It will start from August 7. As a part of the programme, vaccination centers have been set up in seven unions of Ishwardi upazila of Pabna. Ishwardi Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Dr Asma Khan said that 3 vaccination centers will be set up in each union to vaccinate the marginalized people of the village.
A decision was taken at a high-level meeting of the government on July 26 to review the Covid-19 infection situation and strengthen the vaccination against Covid-19. The meeting was chaired by Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and was attended by Health Minister Zahid Maleque, State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam, secretaries of various ministries, Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed and senior officials of various forces and agencies. After the meeting, the Home Minister and Health Minister informed the journalists about the decisions of the meeting.
The health minister said the pace of infection has slowed down wherever the people have been vaccinated. For this, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed to intensify the vaccination activities. He said vaccination activities are also being started at the union level. Those above the age of 50 should come to the Union Parishad Vaccination Center as soon as possible to get vaccinated.
When contacted, Ishwardi Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Dr Asma Khan said that vaccination activities are continuing in the Upazila Health Complex as per the instructions of the government to prevent corona infection. In addition, preparations have been started for vaccination activities at the union level. She said, a total of 21 vaccination centers will be set up in each of the seven unions of the upazila. The Union based vaccination center will be the Union Parishad office, the Union Health Center under the Upazila Health Complex and any one of the educational institutions of the Union. Upazila health complex health workers in each vaccination center will be engaged in vaccination activities, said Dr Asma Khan.
She also said that a 20-bed corona unit has been introduced on the third floor of the Upazila Health Complex. From July 1 to July 31, 93 corona patients were admitted to the Upazila Health Complex. One of them died. 72 people have returned home after recovering. As the condition worsened, 19 patients were shifted to other hospitals. At present 11 people are undergoing treatments.
Meanwhile, vaccination continues at the Upazila Health Complex. People are also increasingly interested in getting vaccinated. Although the crisis was created with the occasional vaccination, now it has been cut. Now, those interested are being vaccinated regularly, said Nazneen Afroz, a statistician at the Upazila Health Complex. She said that the mass vaccination of Covid-19 started on February 8. A total of 37 thousand people have registered in the upazila for vaccination.