Covid Vaccination: Minimum age to remain 40

The minimum age for Covid-19 vaccination will remain 40 for now, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said yesterday.

The minister was talking to journalists following his speech at an event in the capital's Dhaka Dental College yesterday noon.

He said some 20-25 lakh doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from Serum Institute of India (SII) would reach the country on February 22.

About vaccination, he said, "Due to much rush at some of the vaccination centers, people who have registered there, are not getting SMS. But everyone will receive vaccine gradually."

As of yesterday afternoon, around 25.5 lakh people registered on www.surokkha.gov.bd for the Covid-19 vaccine.

Besides, a total of 145,203 people received the first jab yesterday. With this, the total number of people vaccinated rose to 15,86,368.

The countrywide Covid-19 vaccination drive kicked off on February 7.

As per a tripartite deal among the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd, the world's largest vaccine maker, and Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd, the government has bought three crore doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

Serum will send 50 lakh doses each month between January and June.

The first consignment reached the country on January 25 while another 20 lakh doses from the Indian government reached on January 20.

The health minister yesterday said that another 25-30 lakh doses of the purchased vaccine would reach the country on February 22.

The government brought down the age to 40 for registration to get jabs. The government is providing the vaccine for free.

The second one has to be taken within 8 to 12 weeks after the first dose.

COVID-19 DEATH RISE AGAIN

The fresh cases of Covid-19 and deaths caused by the deadly virus marked a rise in Bangladesh as the country's health authorities recorded 16 more deaths and 443 new cases in the last 24 hours till yesterday morning, reports UNB.

The Covid-19 fatalities in the country rose to 8,314 and the caseload to 541,877, according to the latest figures provided by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

In a press release, the DGHS said the daily coronavirus infection rate in Bangladesh fell to 2.67 percent from Tuesday's 2.68 percent, while the overall infection rate stood at 13.92 percent.

However, the mortality rate remained almost steady at 1.53 percent for the past few days, including Tuesday, said the press release, adding that 489,254 patients -- 90.29 percent -- have recovered from the virus infection so far.

So far, 3,893,654 samples have been tested, including 16,612 in the past 24 hours till 8:30am yesterday.

Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18 last year.