Children aged between 5 and 11 years (primary school students) will be vaccinated against Covid-19 at their respective educational institutions, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Monday.
“This vaccination program for children will be conducted in the city corporation areas. We will vaccinate the children at schools there,” he told reporters after an event marking National Mourning Day at National Cancer Research Institute and Hospital in Mohakhali of the capital.
The minister said there are 2.20 lakh children aged between 5 and 11 years. And all children including those who are homeless or out-of-school will be vaccinated. The registration process is underwaybut those concerned have has been asked to complete soon. The Primary and Mass Education Ministry is working on these issues, he added.
The minister said steps will be taken after the ministry informs how many centers will be required for this vaccination programme. “All our doctors and nurses are now enough experienced and well trained. We did not face any untoward situation even in administering 30 crore vaccine doses. We are more careful about the children.”
On August 11, Bangladesh started administering Covid-19 vaccine to children aged between 5-11 years on an experimental basis.The full-fledged vaccination programme for children will start from August 25, said the Health Minister.
“We have already received about 30 lakh doses of vaccine. The US government has assured us to provide the rest of the vaccine through the COVAX facility,” he added.
The received vaccines will be administered among the children in a two months gap. The Pfizer vaccine is specially developed for the children which was also approved by the Directorate General of Drug Administration, he added.
The United States recently donated over three million pediatric doses of Pfizer vaccines and committed to donating a total of over 40 million (4 crore) pediatric doses.
