‘Children above 12 to be vaccinated’

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday said that Bangladesh would administer Covid-19 vaccine to children above 12 soon after receiving the green signal from World Health Organization.

Addressing a press briefing at the Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS), the minister also said that Bangladesh would complete double doses for three crore people by this month, while vaccination of another eight crore people would be completed by January 2022. “We will ensure vaccine for 70 per cent of the total population by April next year,” he told reporters.

The minister also expressed hopes that a total of 12 crore vaccine doses would reach Bangladesh by January.

For children, the government was taking preparation to administrate Moderna and Pfizer shots. Bangladesh detected its first Covid-19 case on March 8 and its first death on March 18. Amid rising Covid infections and fatalities, Bangladesh began mass inoculation drives on February 7.

Bangladesh is administrating vaccines to people age above 25 for commons but allowing students’ age above 18. As of Thursday, 5.28 crore people have registered for the Covid shots in Bangladesh. Among them, 1.77 crore have received both shots, while 3.58 crore took the first dose.