Students below the age of 18 are likely to be inoculated with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against coronavirus, said Minister for Health and Family Welfare Zahid Maleque.
He made the remarks after visiting a centre in Tejgaon for the ‘Comprehensive Examination’ in Nursing and Midwifery courses on Saturday.
The minister said, “Persons above the age of 18 can be given any vaccine. But, according to the guidelines of World Health Organization (WHO) and other countries’ experts, students below that age will probably be jabbed with Pfizer and Modern vaccines.”
He said a decision on how to vaccinate children will be taken at an inter-ministerial meeting on September 5 (today).
Health Minister further said, “Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are being given to children over the age of 12 in many countries, especially in US and Britain. We can follow it as well.”
“The second doses of vaccine are in stock and those who have been given the first dose through the campaign will be given the second dose from September 7 at the same centre,” he said stating the initiative of providing two doses at the same centre had been taken to motivate indifferent people in the village areas.
The minister assured the vaccination of all in phases, on the basis of availability, saying “60 million new doses from China and 105 million from WHO have been asked. Those are expected to be available by January next year. There will be no crisis once we get 16 crore vaccines.”
