Covid-19 vaccination for schoolchildren begins
Children will receive their second dose eight weeks after the first dose
The first round of Covid-19 vaccination for children aged between 5 and 11 started in the capital yesterday with paediatric Pfizer jabs.
Around 9:00am, State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Md Zakir Hossen inaugurated the campaign as chief guest at Dhaka's Nilkhet Government Primary School.
A total of 186 vaccination centres have been set up at 12 areas and 15 schools in the city, Health Minister Zahid Maleque told journalists at the Secretariat in Dhaka yesterday.
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"The government has taken the initiative to provide children with education safely by ensuring protection for children with the prevention of corona. Children will be vaccinated at schools," said Md Zakir Hossen.
He requested parents to vaccinate their children after registering their births.
The children will receive their second dose eight weeks after the first dose. All of them will have to be registered on the Surokkha app with their birth certificates.
Bangladesh has so far received 30 lakh doses of the paediatric Pfizer vaccine through the COVAX facility, a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.
The health authorities have set a target of vaccinating some 22 million 5-11 year old children across the country with the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.
On 11 August, 16 children were given Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine doses on a trial basis.
They are all students of Abul Bashar Government Primary School. Nidhi Nandini, a class three student of the school, was the first one who got the trial Covid-19 vaccine.
