The government has decided to lower the age of coronavirus vaccination to 18 years, according to the chief of the Directorate General of Health Service.
The health minister has already given the instruction in a bid to bolster the ongoing vaccination drive, its Director General ABM Khurshid Alam said on Friday.
“The matter is under discussion and an announcement will be made soon,” he told reporters at the Mugda General Hospital in Dhaka.
Regarding vaccination in rural areas, Khurshid said the government was considering whether shots could be administered in the same way as other government vaccines and how the process could be made easier.
Urging everyone to sign up to receive Covid-19 vaccine, he said: “Even if vaccinated people contract the virus, the symptoms are less severe … Vaccine decreases the risk of hospitalization as well.”
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Bangladesh still has an adequate supply of medical oxygen, according to Khurshid.
“Normally the demand for oxygen is around 70 to 90 tons, but it has now gone up to 200 tons. However, the country still has enough oxygen supply and is also procuring oxygen from India,” he said.
On the impact of lockdown, the DGHS chief said: “The previous two weeks [of lockdown] did not have much effect. But the infection rate has decreased in the border districts.”
He, however, said that the effect of the curbs could be perceived in a few days.
Bangladesh went into another spell of strict lockdown for 14 days from 6am on Friday—just after Eid-ul-Azha celebrations—aiming to stem the recent upsurge of Covid-19 cases and deaths triggered by the Delta variant of coronavirus.
