Ward level vaccination in villages under special campaign from January: DGHS

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) will start a month-long Covid-19 vaccination campaign from 1 January, Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the National Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment Programme told the media on Thursday (30 December).

"A special vaccination campaign will be conducted at the village level throughout the month of January. The target is to give 3 crore doses of vaccine in one month under the campaign. The vaccine will be given at the EPI centers in the village level wards," Dr Shamsul Haque said. 

Earlier, Health Minister Zahid Malek said at a function in the capital on Wednesday, "We have already arranged for 31 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine. To meet our target, a total of 28 crore doses of vaccine, including booster doses, will be required."

"We will have 3-crore more doses of vaccine in our hands. And we have already vaccinated in the slums including at school level. From next month, we will start giving at least 4-crore doses of vaccine every month. For this, we are taking an initiative to administer Covid-19 vaccine in every ward of the country from next month. Hopefully, we will be able to meet our targets by next May-June," he added.

Covid-19 inoculation campaign started on 7 February. So far, 7 crore 24 lakh people in the country have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, and 5 crore 11 lakh people have been fully vaccinated. Besides, 15415 people have taken booster doses.