Vaccination centres across the country drew huge crowds on the 5th day of the mass vaccination drive, creating a chaotic situation everywhere and raising the risk of the virus transmission. After a reality check at different vaccination centers, UNB correspondents saw long queues of people standing close to each other with little or no regard to social distancing rules. Hundreds of jab-seekers, both male and female, turned up at the small vaccination centres with or without online registrations, overwhelming its medical staff. The medical staff at the vaccination centres and the vaccine aspirants pointed fingers at each other because of mismanagement and slow pace of vaccination.    According to the UNB correspondents, the number of staff was too inadequate to smoothly vaccinate such a huge number of people. As the ruthless Delta variant of Covid-19 keeps spreading like wildfire, Bangladesh on Saturday kicked off another phase of its mass vaccination drive aimed at inoculating 35 lakh people in six days. However, the drive has not been free of controversies as mismanagement and anomalies across the country became a topic of discussions in the last few days. Even on the very first day of the drive, UNB reported about the chaotic situation which arose at the city’s Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital. Nearly 4,000 vaccine seekers, including men and women, were seen waiting in queues in the corridors of its first and second floors with the vaccination going on at a snail’s pace. Read: Covid kills 237 more in Bangladesh as Delta strain takes hold Outraged by the “mismanagement”, the vaccine seekers said the situation turned worse as there was no arrangement for women to stand in any separate queue. Tired of the long wait in the queue, the irate crowds got involved in quarrels with Ansar personnel and the hospital staff. Some of them were seen trying to push each other to enter the vaccination rooms venting their anger amid chaos. Inside the vaccination rooms, it was found that only two to three nurses were providing shots while another two or three medical staff were checking vaccination registration papers. They had to struggle a lot to cope with the situation for lack of manpower.

BRAC, a development organisation, has joined as a partner of the government's Covid-19 vaccination drive to accelerate resilience against the pandemic. BRAC started managing vaccine administration in nine centres of Dhaka from Saturday with the help of midwives from BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health. It is also assisting the government in 3,214 centres at the union level across Bangladesh. Read: BRAC gets regulatory nod to issue zero-coupon bonds People aged from 25 years and above can get the jab by showing their national identity card (NID) between 9am and 3pm every day from BRAC-managed centres, said a press release by the organization. The service will remain open till August 12. The eligible must bring a photocopy of NID card or the vaccine registration card registered with the Shurokkha App to receive the vaccine. The centres are offering vaccine doses only for those who have registered with the Shurokkha App but have yet to receive a short message service confirming the date of vaccination. Read:One-third of female employed youths jobless as impact of Covid-19: BRAC Only the first dose of the vaccine is offered from these centres and will mention the date of the second dose in the vaccine card. Each of these BRAC-managed centres in Dhaka city can administer 350 doses per day. Women, elderly people (over 50 years) and people with disabilities are prioritized in vaccination from these centres. Dr Morseda Chowdhury, director of Health, Nutrition and Population Programme (HNPP) at BRAC, said, “We aim to ensure vaccine administration management in a disciplined way everywhere, including hard-to-reach areas. We believe a combined effort by everyone is essential in the fight against the pandemic.” Read:Nine banks to collaborate with BRAC in Covid awareness and support The nine centres BRAC is operating in the two city corporations in Dhaka city are: Nurer Chala Government School and Shaheed Turjo Primary School in Badda under the Dhaka North City Corporation, and councillor office in Paltan Community Centre, Dingi in Dhanmondi 8/A, councillor office in Dhanmondi Community Centre at Bhuter Goli on Dhanmondi Circular Road, councillor office in Hatirpool Kacha Bazar, councillor office in Shegunbagicha multipurpose complex, Fakir Chan Sarder Community Centre in Narinda, and MA Sattar High School in Demra under Dhaka South City Corporation.