Bangladesh News Desk: Four people including a child were injured after a chaotic situation arose at a vaccine centre in Savar, outskirts of Dhaka, as people rushed to the centre fearing inoculation of the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine might stop after 26 February.
People started gathering at the Bangladesh Institute of Health Management (BIHM) centre since Wednesday morning.
Visiting the centre on the morning, authorities were seen making mike announcement, saying, “Don’t hurt policemen and volunteers maintaining law and order. If there is any chaos, vaccination will stop.”
Though the health ministry said inoculation of the first dose of Covid vaccine would continue, most of these people seeking vaccine do not know it.
As people, mostly readymade garments workers, formed a one-kilometer queue on the road from the BIHM main entrance, law enforcement agencies personnel could not control the gatherings.
Even on Tuesday, at least eight people waiting for their jabs were injured during police attack amid the chaos at the centre.
Mominul Islam from Kathgara of Ashulia came to take the vaccine. When he was told the nearest vaccine centre from his home is in Savar cantonment area, he told Prothom Alam, “Everyone was saying vaccination is on at Savar. So, I come with the others. If I knew, I would not come amid such chaos.”
Liza Akter from the same area said, “I am in a trouble. The centre is full of chaos. Now I am thinking how I would leave the centre.”
A mike announcement was made around 10:30am saying a child was injured after falling off the ground amid chaos. Ten minutes later, a woman fell sick. Security guards carried her out the of the vaccine centre on a stretcher.
Another announcement came a while later saying another woman was injured in stampede and she was admitted to the Savar upazila health complex. Two more women fell unconscious in the crowd between 11:00am-11:30am.
Security guard Sohag Mia said more people have been coming to receive vaccine over the last two days. Many fall sick amidst the crowd. He himself rescued several sick persons and bought them drinking water.
Savar upazila health and family planning officer Sayemul Huda told Prothom Alo it has been very difficult to tackle the situation without the cooperation of all. However, all-out effort is one to continue vaccination keeping the situation under control, he added.
