UNB, Bagerhat

One hundred percent of the eligible population received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine in Bagerhat’s Fakirhat, which has become the first upazila in the country to be so.

It is a remarkable achievement at a time when countries around the world are struggling to convince people to take the vaccine.

According to officials, the success was achieved on Thursday.

In this upazila of 1.63 lakh people, for months, day after day, long and orderly lines formed outside the vaccination centres.

Students, teachers, farmers, potters -- young and old, rich and poor, highly- and barely-educated -- showed up when their names were called; then returned weeks later for the second dose.

“Fakirhat is the first upazila in Bangladesh to have achieved 100 percent vaccination of all eligible population. This is quite an achievement. We will use Fakirhat experience in other upazilas of the country,” Lokman Hossain Miah, senior secretary to the Health Services Division, said yesterday while addressing a programme in the upazila.

“All the eligible target group people above 12 years of age in Fakirhat have been vaccinated. Around 1.63 lakh people live here. Against an eligible population of 1,26,000 in the upazila, 1,20,000 people have been inoculated and 6,000 residents who live outside the upazila also got jabbed -- that makes it 100 percent vaccination,” Fakirhat Upazila Parishad Chairman Swapan Kumar Das said.

Swapan credited the success to several campaigns, including mega vaccination drives, special camps for senior citizens, door-to-door campaigns, and the engagement of public leaders at all levels.