Amid a fresh spike in Covid-19 infection, the government has decided to bring children aged between five and 12 under a vaccination campaign.
Officials at Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) confirm it, saying that the inoculation of the antidote among the kids will help further strengthen the country's anti-Covid fight.
Speaking at a workshop in a city hotel on Monday, DGHS additional director general Meerjady Sabrina Flora said they have decided to vaccinate 5.0-12 years of children with Pfizer jabs.
She urges the public to get their kids registered on the dedicated Surokkha app using birth certificates.
"Those who do not have any birth certificate should immediately collect this key document for registration."
Ms Sabrina also calls for people to follow Covid health protocols to avoid being infected with the virus, which keeps spreading in society at a faster pace.
Seeking anonymity, a DGHS official says another large consignment of Pfizer vaccines is expected to reach here very soon. "After getting that delivery, we'll start the vaccination for kids."
To date, Bangladesh has covered citizens aged over 12 under the ongoing Covid-19 inoculation drive.
According to a verified Facebook page of the US Embassy, America has donated another 4.0-million ready-to-use Pfizer doses to Bangladesh.
This brings the total US-donated vaccines to more than 68-million doses delivered to date, it informed.
Sources say only Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine is currently approved for children aged between five and 17. Children and teens need two doses of the jab.
The latest update on the kids' inoculation comes at a time when the country has been through the fourth wave of coronavirus infection.
In the last 24 hours until Monday morning, Bangladesh reported 2,101 new cases along with two deaths due to the viral disease, discloses DGHS data.
The infection rate was 15.66 per cent as 3,820 samples were tested across the country during the period.
With the latest figures, the entire caseload has risen to 1,967,274 while the death toll climbed to 29,142.
The daily infection number was the highest since 19 February 2022 when the number was 2,150.
In terms of recovery, a total of 179 people recovered from the deadly viral disease and it took the overall number of recovery to 1,906,867.
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