Children aged 5-11 to get Covid jabs at schools: Minister

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, reports UNB.
"This vaccination programme for children will be conducted in the city corporation areas. We will vaccinate the children at schools there," he told reporters after an event organized at National Cancer Research Institute and Hospital at Mohakhali in the capital marking National Mourning Day.
The minister said there are 22 million (2.20 crore) children aged between 5 and 11 years. And all the children, including those who are homeless or out-of-school, will be vaccinated.
The registration process is underway but those concerned have has been asked to complete it 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 centres 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 300 million 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 3.0 million doses of vaccine. The US government has assured us of providing the rest of the vaccine through the COVAX facility," he added. The received vaccines will be administered among the children in a two-month 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 vaccine and committed to donating a total of over 40 million pediatric doses.