Having received the first consignment of 20 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine as a gift from India—along with the purchase of three crore doses from the Serum Institute of India, of which 50 lakh doses are expected to arrive tomorrow—Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the Covid-19 vaccination programme virtually at the Kurmitola General Hospital on Wednesday. A nurse at the hospital will be the first person to be vaccinated on that day. Later, the piloting will take place across several public hospitals. The vaccination campaign will begin in Dhaka and then will be introduced elsewhere gradually. Each vaccination team will have six members, two vaccinators and four volunteers—the vaccinators will be assigned from the nurses or Sub-Assistant Community Medical Officers (SACMO), while respective officials of vaccination centres will recruit volunteers locally. Health professionals and volunteers are currently being trained for the inoculation campaign.

While this is surely good news for all, we are worried that the government is yet to finalise the list of healthcare professionals and volunteers to be part of the Covid-19 mass inoculation campaign. Needless to say, it would have been an astute approach to keep the list ready as the vaccination programme has been in discussion for quite some time now. According to health officials, the piloting of the mass vaccination will start with 20-25 health workers and other professionals, and a day later, 400-500 people would be given vaccine shots at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Kurmitola General Hospital, Mugda Medical College Hospital and Kuwait-Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital. There will be around 330 vaccination centres across Dhaka for mass vaccination.

We commend the government's swift initiative to carry out the mass campaign nationwide within the given span of time and are hopeful that the training would be completed before the start of the vaccination process. We also hope that health officials can keep track of the recipients in case of any side-effects. At the same time, it is crucial that the list of frontline workers who will receive the shots first is readied immediately. Experts have suggested that doctors and other healthcare workers who have been treating Covid-19 patients should be inoculated first, along with other frontline workers, mainly from the working class, who are more exposed to the virus. The elderly population and those people with pre-existing health conditions must also be a priority. Once underway, the programme needs to be under strict supervision and proper management given the magnitude of the undertaking. We hope eventually every citizen will receive the vaccine in our battle against this pandemic.