Registration not necessary for first vaccine dose until February 26

People above the age of 12 can now get the COVID-19 vaccine without prior registration until the administration of the first doses ends on Feb 26.

If a citizen does not have a national ID card, birth registration certificate or passport, he or she can visit any immunisation centre and get the vaccine through line listing by providing their mobile phone number only, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a bulletin on Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com.

People have been taking the vaccine after registering for the shot on the Surokkha platform using their NID, birth certificate or passport details since the immunisation programme started in February 2021. 

Md Shamsul Haque, a member of the directorate’s vaccine deployment committee, said in the bulletin that vaccine recipients will be given a card for the next doses after getting their first dose without registration. The directorate has already sent the cards to the centres. 

The government is aiming to inoculate 120 million people out of 133 million aged above 12 years, Shamsul said. This means 70 per cent of the population will be vaccinated against the coronavirus under the government's plan. 

To achieve the target, the authorities have planned a mass vaccination drive to administer 10 million first doses on Feb 26. 

Shamsul said they will set up three centres in each union and deploy five additional teams to every Upazila, and 20 additional teams to each district for the district-level centres. 

Twenty-four to 60 additional teams will be deployed to the city corporations. 

They will work as mobile teams and provide services where the crowds will get big. 

According to the DGHS, nearly 101.2 million citizens took the first dose until Tuesday. Out of these people, around 72.9 million received the second dose as well. The government also administered around 30 million third or booster doses.