Many elderly people have been given a relatively low priority in the COVID-19 vaccination plan although they are vulnerable to the novel coronavirus.
Elderly people above 77 years have been included in the target population for vaccination in the first phase, although people above 60 years account for more than 54 per cent of the COVID-19 deaths in Bangladesh.
The highest COVID-19 mortality rate in Bangladesh is among the people aged 70–79 years, accounting for 31 per cent of the deaths from COVID-19, while the rate is 22 per cent in the 60-69 age group and 9 per cent among those above 80 years, according to the World Health Organisation coronavirus situation report on Bangladesh.
The Directorate General of Health Services on Monday announced that the nationwide vaccination against COVID-19 would begin in the first week of February as 50 lakh doses, the first instalment, of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are expected to arrive in the country by January 25.
Healthcare providers, freedom fighters, law enforcers, defence personnel, government employees, journalists and elected public representatives have been selected to be inoculated in the first phase.
As per the vaccination plan, elderly people above 77 years will receive the first dose against COVID-19 in the first month of the vaccination drive while people between 70-76 years will have it in the second month and those between 64and 69 years in the fifth month.
City and municipality workers, utility workers, upazila-level government employees, bankers and sportsmen are scheduled to be vaccinated in the first month.
People with other illnesses, including diabetes, asthma, chronic obstetric pulmonary diseases, hyper tension and cardiovascular diseases, who are vulnerable to COVID-19, have also not been listed as priority recipients.
The US and UK authorities have selected elderly people on top of the list of vaccine recipients, including the healthcare providers.
India has targeted healthcare providers first and then the elderly people for the vaccination.
Expanded Programme of Immunisation director Shamsul Haque on Tuesday told New Age that the most elderly people, those above 77 years, would be vaccinated in the first month but there are scopes for the overlapping of other age groups. ‘We will inoculate other elderly people if the first-priority groups are not available where the vaccination will be going on,’ he said.
Shamsul, also the member-secretary of the national vaccine deployment committee, said that it was not possible for them to identify the patients with diseases like diabetes, asthma, hypertension and cardiac problems and this is why such people have not been put in the priority list.
‘Everyone will have the vaccine shots in phases but we have to prioritise some people as we have vaccine shortage,’ he said.
Noted virologist Nazrul Islam said that it was alright to prioritise the healthcare providers above other groups of people but the elderly people should also be prioritised for the vaccination, considering their vulnerability.
Elderly people have, he further said, also comorbidity and they should have therefore been prioritised, as people with comorbidity cannot be identified.
‘Vaccination of elderly people will cover people with comorbidity and help reduce the COVID-19 mortality,’ said Nazrul, a former vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.
He feared that it would be difficult for the authorities to maintain discipline and order during the vaccination as he said people might feel deprived and start thronging the immunisation centres when they would be left for future inoculation.
The Bangladesh government plans to roll out the COVID-19 vaccination after registering people in a mobile-based app named Surakkha.
The registration will begin on January 26.
The government has planned to use mostly the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India and the supply to be received under the COVAX initiative of the global vaccine alliance GAVI.
The Bangladesh authorities have signed a tripartite deal with Serum and local firm Beximco Pharma to procure three crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and expect six crore doses from the COVAX initiative.
Bangladesh has until now staved off grim forecasts about the coronavirus wreaking havoc on the populous country and has tallied roughly 7,800 deaths and 5.24 lakh cases since the first cases were detected in March 2020.
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