Cold chain deficit a challenge in expediting children’s vaccination

A deficit of cooling systems outside Dhaka appeared as a challenge in vaccinating children aged 12 to 17, health authorities have said.

However, efforts were underway to expand the freezing facilities.

Directorate general of health services (DGHS) officials said they launched the inoculation campaign for children on November 1, 2021.

The campaign was largely dependent on Pfizer vaccines as global studies suggested it was suitable and effective for that age group.

“We are facing challenges in maintaining the temperature (for the vaccines) in facilities outside Dhaka,” DGHS Director General Professor Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam told BSS.

He said the country had enough Pfizer vaccine stocks and more Pfizer vaccines were expected to arrive very soon. But unlike other jabs, Pfizer vaccines require sub-zero cooling systems.

He, however, said parents or guardians of this age group also appeared “less motivated” in vaccinating their children. This reluctance could hinder the campaign even after expansion of the cooling systems.

“We are closely working with educational institutions to motivate parents… We hope the vaccination campaign would gain pace,” Alam said.

The DGHS chief’s comments came as several health experts and observers said that the countrywide vaccination drive could not attain the expected pace, even though the campaign was launched over one and a half month ago.

“The number of children of the target age group is over one crore (10 million) and over two crore doses are required to cover them,” Director General of the Secondary and Higher Education Prof Dr Syed Md Golam Faruque said.

“We are developing (cooling) infrastructures in remaining districts to vaccinate the students,” he added.

Both the temperature issue and the guardians’ lack of awareness visibly slowed the drive.

So far, the DGHS administered the first Covid-19 vaccine dose to 11 lakh (1.1 million) students while over two lakh students were given second shots of the inoculation.

Vaccination campaign for the target age group was underway in 54 districts, DGHS’s Covid-19 Vaccine Management Taskforce Member-Secretary Dr Shamsul Haque informed.

The DGHS chief supplemented him saying “we are gradually expanding the campaign across the country by installing air conditioning units for infrastructures to enfold the children in remote corners of the country.

Eight schools in Dhaka were designated as centres to administer the vaccines to the target age group.