WEB DESK
Bangladesh government on Thursday launched the Covid-19 vaccination programme for children in the age group of 5-11 across the city-corporation areas in the country.
The vaccination programme will continue for the next 14-days. During the vaccination drive, more than 2.25 crore children in the age group of 5-11 are targeted to receive the vaccine.
Children are getting the Pfizer shots administered at 186 vaccination centres spread across 12 city corporations. Officially inaugurating the programme in Dhaka at a government school, State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Zakir Hossain said that soon the vaccination drive will be extended upto the level of districts, upazila and municipalities. School dropouts and homeless children will also be covered under the vaccination drive, said the Minister.
Bangladesh has received 30 lakh doses of the Pfizer vaccine through the COVAX facility of the WHO recently. The vaccination of the children in the age group of 5-11 was started on an experimental basis on August 11.
In the meanwhile, close to 13 crore people in Bangladesh have received the 1st dose of the vaccine while over 12 crore people have received the second dose of the vaccine as well. More than 4.29 crore have received the booster dose in the country.
On Thursday, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) reported that 256 new cases were detected in the country while one person died due to Corona. The sample detection rate was 4.36 percent in the last 24 hours on the morning of Thursday, said DGHS.