No Covid vaccine for under 18s

Photo: Collected

People aged below 18 will not get the Covid-19 vaccines, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said yesterday.

The first shipment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India's Serum Institute will arrive between late January and early February while the shipment from the global COVAX facility will be available by June.

The government has adequate preparation to ensure proper distribution, he told reporters after visiting two vaccine laboratories of the Directorate General of Drug Administration.

"Three crore shots of the vaccine will arrive in phases over the next six months," he said.

"We have trained people and the storage for the vaccines along with the cold boxes for carrying them have been managed. A guideline has also been prepared. Those who are criticising do not have any information."

The shots will be enough to vaccinate everyone eligible.

"Around 37 percent of the population is aged below 18, there are 30 lakh pregnant women, and about one crore people are abroad. Everyone else will be vaccinated with the shots from the COVAX and Oxford."

He again said that the government was successful in tackling the pandemic, adding that Covid-19 vaccines will be tested in the country's labs in the future.

Meanwhile, 24 people have died from Covid-19 in the 24 hours preceding 8:00am yesterday, according to a press release from the Directorate General of Health Services.

The total number of deaths reached 7,452 and the death rate was 1.46 percent as of yesterday.

At least 1,049 new infections were recorded in the 24-hour period, taking the total number to 5,09,148, added the release.

The new cases were detected after testing 12,650 samples. The positivity rate was 8.29 percent while the overall positivity rate as of yesterday was 16.05 percent.

With 1,473 new recoveries, the total number of people who recovered from Covid-19 stood at 4,51,961 and the recovery rate at 88.77 percent.

Of the 24 reported dead yesterday, 16 were men and the rest women.

Of them, one was aged between 31 and 40 years, one between 41 and 50, seven were between 51 and 60, and 15 above 60, added the release.