Bangladesh lowers vaccination age to 40 years
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladesh Desk: The government on Monday lowered the minimum age to 40 years from 55 for the COVID-19 vaccination in the face of a lukewarm response from the people to the ongoing nationwide inoculation campaign.
The authorities took the move hours after prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the weekly cabinet meeting asked for easing the registration process so that the common people could avail the vaccine smoothly.
‘The prime minister has asked for easing the registration process for the common people and lowering the minimum age limit to 40 years from 55 years to get the COVID-19 vaccine. She also called upon all concerned to register for the vaccination,’ cabinet secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told a press briefing at the Secretariat after the cabinet meeting.
The government on Sunday launched the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive with the inoculation of 31,160 people, far behind the daily target of 1.5 lakh, including frontline fighters and those aged 55 and above on a priority basis.
The prime minister’s directives came when she virtually chaired the cabinet meeting from her official residence Ganabhaban as the response from the people to the vaccination was far less, compared to the target, on the first day of the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Sunday.
The members of the cabinet and the secretaries concerned attended the meeting from the Secretariat.
The cabinet secretary said that those having a genuine ground could register at the vaccination point by showing their national identity cards.
Anwarul said that the prime minister also instructed the authorities to vaccinate the family of the frontline fighters who include the government officials, health service providers and media workers.
He said that the prime minister again asked all to wear masks and abide by the prescribed hygiene practices even after taking the vaccine.
The online registration has been made mandatory for the people to receive two COVID-19 vaccine doses at a four-week interval.
The vaccination campaign with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India kicked off 336 days after the first three coronavirus cases were detected in the country on March 8 last year.
The Directorate General of Health Services has planned to inoculate 35 lakh people in the first month, but the registration process inconveniences and public confusion about the vaccine presumably drew a relatively low number of registrations for the vaccination.
