Pfizer vaccines for children reach country

The country on Saturday received the first consignment of Covid-19 vaccines for children.

A total of 15 lakh 2 thousand 400 doses of specially prepared Pfizer vaccine arrived here.

The director of the health department, M Shamsul Haque, confirmed the matter.

The vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech - is meant for kids aged 5-11 years, Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment Committee of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

"We plan to start this school-based vaccination from next month," Dr Haque said, adding, "But the vaccination starting date is yet to fix."

He said, "It will be finalised at the policy-making stage. Hopefully, vaccination will be possible next month."

He said that vaccination will be given in the capital at the beginning. 

"After sending to school, we have children in the community who do not come to school, we will campaign for them and vaccinate them," he added.

The government announced the decision to vaccinate 5 to 11-year-olds last April. 

With the help of the Ministry of Education, the work of preparing the list of children is going on through the concerned educational institutions.

The number of children of this age in the country is about 4 crore 40 lakh. 

The health department has got a guarantee of 4 crore 10 lakh vaccines to give them. 

Children will be vaccinated two doses and 8 crore 80 lakh doses of vaccine will be required for this.

The health department started giving Corona vaccine to the people in February 2021.

Source: BSS