Bangladesh is resuming its mass inoculation drive on Satuday amid an alarming surge in Covid-19 deaths that crossed the 22,000-mark on Friday.

The government aims to vaccinate 32 lakh people in the week-long nationwide campaign.

The walk-in Covid-19 immunisation campaign, however, will not be as large as it was announced earlier, said Prof ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of the health directorate, while addressing a press conference on Friday.

"Due to a shortage of vaccines, it is not possible to hold the campaign on a larger scale. Therefore, these activities will be conducted in a somewhat limited capacity," he told the media.

In the meantime, the country reported 248 more deaths from Covid-19 with 12,606 new cases in 24 hours until Friday 8am, according to the health directorate.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque had earlier said around 1 crore people would be inoculated during the week-long campaign, but the target has been trimmed at the last minute.

In addition, the Directorate Generate of Health Services (DGHS) has given changed instructions, saying the campaign can be conducted under local management on 8-9 August in remote and hard-to-reach areas and on 7-9 August in the city corporation areas through regular EPI activities.

In the Rohingya camps located in Cox's Bazar, vaccines will be administered on 10-12 August under the campaign. Rohingyas aged 55 years or older will be vaccinated during the campaign.

"The government is expanding the inoculation campaign. As part of that, as many as 3.2 million people will receive the first shot at over 15,000 vaccination centres across the country," the DGHS DG said.

Apart from giving individuals in rural areas access to the vaccine, the government has also brought down the age limit for vaccination to 25 years.

In spite of calls to lower the eligibility age to 18, the administration has opted against it to avoid "chaos", according to Khurshid Alam.

"Many 18-year-old people do not have national ID cards. This will cause chaos. As a result, the vaccination age has been set at 25 instead of 18. Those who have previously signed up for vaccination will receive their doses at the centres designated for them," he said.

Vaccines will also be given to persons who have been unable to register, if they are at least 25 years old, he added. "However, women and people with disabilities in their 50s and people in remote areas will get priority."

"The immunisation programme will be carried out concurrently in 4,600 unions, 1,054 municipalities and 433 wards in city corporations across the country by 32,706 vaccinators and 48,459 volunteers," Khurshid stated.

He urged everyone to put their "negative sentiments and superstitions" aside and receive the vaccine.

Different statements have been made over the vaccination drive from various sources, but neither the health ministry nor the health directorate is liable for all of those claims, said Khurshid Alam.

"We won't be able to cover a substantial section of the population unless we can conduct a large-scale vaccination campaign. For us, this is a test run to gather experience," he added.

Second dose of Oxford vaccine in Chattogram to resume Sunday

After a four-month break, the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot will be administered in Chattogram from Sunday.

The decision came after 1,00,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccines reached the port city on Friday morning.

At the same time, 38,400 doses of Moderna Covid vaccine of the US and 1,20,000 doses of Chinese Sinopharm shot have reached Chattogram, Sheikh Fazle Rabbi, civil surgeon of Chattogram, informed The Business Standard about these issues.

He said the vaccines reached the Chattogram District Civil Surgeon's office in a Beximco freezer van on Friday morning. The vaccines were received by a six-member committee headed by Civil Surgeon Sheikh Fazle Rabbi.

The vaccines are being stored in the EPI storeroom at the prescribed temperature. Those who have not received the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be given these vaccines.

Like the rest of the country, Covid-19 vaccination drive was launched in Chattogram on 7 February. However, administration of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was stopped halfway through and more than 100,000 people were unable to take the second dose after taking the first dose.

According to the civil surgeon's office, the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine was given in Chattogram from 8 April this year. Some 4,53,760 people got the first dose of coronavirus vaccine  in Chattogram till the closure of the campaign while the number of second dose recipients stood at 3,11,377. About 1.5 lakh vaccine recipients who have received the first dose have not yet received the second dose.