Covid jabs for kids to start today

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) will launch the Covid-19 inoculation campaign for children, aged 5-11 years, today.

"The main campaign will start from the 25th of this month in only the city corporation areas and then it will be implemented countrywide," Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the Covid-19 Vaccine Management Taskforce Committee, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque will inaugurate today's event at Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka around noon, said a press release from the ministry.

At the event, the directorate of primary education will vaccinate 15 children, Shamsul Haque said without elaborating further. About the total number of children eligible for this campaign, he said, "We have to cover every [primary] school and the the directorate of primary education has been working on it."

There are a total of 2,19,32,638 primary schoolchildren, according to the directorate of primary education website data. Besides, there are many children of this age group studying in madrasas and kindergarten schools  while many are living on the street.

A health official last week told The Daily Star that they will also jab these children gradually. So far, the DGHS has received 30 lakh Pfizer vaccines made specially for the children.

Meanwhile, the DGHS has reported 198 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday, said a press release.

In the same 24 hours, one patient has died.

With the latest count, the total number of fatalities due to Covid rose to 29,309 and the total cases 200,80,86.