The 12 to 17 years old students will be jabbed soon in Bangladesh to combat coronavirus. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be given to the school and college students.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque made the remarks at a press conference on Covid-19 vaccine and contemporary issues at the Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons in Mohakhali on Sunday.
The minister said, “I visited Geneva four days ago and talked to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) about vaccinating students. They have approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for school-college students (12 to 17 years old) to prevent the infection.”
He said that there are now 60 lakh vaccines in stock. The 60 lakh vaccines will be given to 30 lakh students. Another 60 lakh vaccines are scheduled to come this month. Then there will be no shortage of vaccines in the vaccination program for students.
He also said that it would be possible to vaccinate some 8 crore people in the country between December and January. A total of 7.22 crore vaccines have been received so far. Around 3.61 crore people have been vaccinated with the first dose and 17.9 lakh people have been vaccinated with the second dose. Now there are 1.71 crore doses of vaccine in hand. Another 5.2 crore people are registered in the government’s app for vaccination.
“About 3.5 crore more vaccines will come this year. We will be able to bring 12 crore people under vaccination by March next year. It is 80 per cent of the country’s total population. Corona is now under control, however everyone still has to follow the hygiene rules,” said the minister.
