Amid a serious spike of coronavirus cases, the government is going to resume the countrywide mass vaccination campaign on Thursday through administering Sinopharm jabs.

Besides, the online registration process for those who are on the priority list for vaccination resumed today (Wednesday) after a long pause.

Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the Vaccine Deployment Committee, came up with the announcement at a virtual press briefing arranged by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

He said the Sinopharm jabs will be administered at 40 centres in Dhaka city and at all district hospitals from 8am to 3pm every day as in the past.

Dr Haque said the vaccine will also be given at Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (BITID) in Chattogram and Saiddpur Sadar Hospital during the same period.

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He said those who got registered earlier but could not receive the vaccines will be given the Sinopharm jabs now while the medical and university students and those who are on the priority lists can get registered for the vaccine. “Everyone will get an SMS from a vaccination centre after the registration and all must receive the vaccine at that centre accordingly. “In this case, the vaccine card and NID card must be brought for receiving the vaccine.”

Dr Haque said the Covid vaccination centres will remain out of the purview of the lockdown. “Those who have vaccine cards will be able to go to the relevant centre showing it.”

He said the expatriate workers who stay in countries where the Sinopharm vaccine is accepted also can receive the vaccine at the centres both in Dhaka and outside. “But no one will get the vaccine without registration.”

Besides, Dr Haque said, the Pfizer vaccine will also be administered at seven centres--Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Salimullah Medical College and Hospital, Mugda Medical College Hospital, Shaheed Shuhrawardy Medical College and Hospital, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Kurmitola General Hospital, and Sheikh Russel National Gastroliver Institute and Hospital—in the capital.

He said the outbound expatriate workers who are not allowed to return to their workplaces without getting Pfizer vaccine can only receive the vaccine at the seven centres as per the list from the Manpower Export Promotion Bureau.

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Dr Haque said those who are supposed to receive Sinopharm jabs from these centres will have to go to alternative centres.