Covid vaccines to be administered in all schools to vaccinate students

School-going students, aged 12-17, will be vaccinated in their schools across the country, said Health and Family Welfare minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday, reports UNB.

The minister said, “We have been vaccinating students of four to five schools at one school premises till now.”

“In this case, we see that various complications were being created including registration. So, we decided to go to every school and vaccinate the students,” he added.

The minister informed this at a function organised by the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) in the capital on Thursday afternoon.

Asked about when this activity would start, Zahid Maleque said “We’re getting ready. We’ll be able to start vaccinating in schools in a few days,” the minister added.

Besides, this vaccination program will also be conducted regularly in the schools which are already being vaccinated, he said.

The minister also said, “Vaccinating school students is a huge challenge.”

On 1 November, the new campaign to vaccinate school students, aged 12-17, against Covid-19 kicked off at 12 centres in Dhaka.

The school students are vaccinated with US-made Pfizer vaccine as it is suitable for them.

“However, the catastrophe that awaits us even bigger than Covid-19 is antimicrobial resistance,” said the minister.

Stopping consumption of antibiotics unnecessarily is the only solution to prevent antimicrobial resistance, he said. The purchase and sale of antibiotics without a registered physician, dentist and veterinarian should be stopped completely.

Zahid Maleque said, “We will enact a law to stop buying or selling antibiotics without a prescription. The law is awaiting final approval.”

Earlier, the health minister inaugurated the online drug license, a new initiative of the DGDA.