Staff Reporter :
The government is mulling to lower the age of taking coronavirus vaccination to 18 years, the Director General of the Directorate General of Health Service said.
ABM Khurshid Alam, the DG of the DGHS said on Friday that the health minister had already given the instruction to bolster the ongoing vaccination campaign.
“The matter is under discussion and an announcement will be made soon,” the DG told the journalists while visiting the Mugda General Hospital in the capital.
Regarding vaccination in rural areas, Khurshid Alam said that the government was considering to inoculate vaccines after checking national identification card (NID) only.
“The covid jabs are to be administered in the same way as done in case of other government vaccines to make the process easier,” he said.
“Everyone should take vaccines. Even if vaccinated people contract the virus, the symptoms are less severe. The jab also reduces the risk of hospitalization as well,” the DG said.
I have talked to many covid patients in this hospital, several of them said that they had not taken vaccine.
They had a fear of being vaccinated, but everyone should take the jab.
The vaccine has a major role to reduce risks of deteriorating situation. Replying to a query, the DG said, the country still has an adequate supply of medical oxygen.
“Normally the demand for oxygen is around 70 to 90 tons, but it has now gone upto 200 tons. Moreover, the country also procuring oxygen from abroad.”
Replying on another query, he said, “The previous two weeks of lockdown did not have much effect. But the infection rate has taken in the border districts.”
“Covid infection has gone down in Chapainawabgonj, Naogaon, Khulna and Kushtia. We have to wait for days to get a result of the lockdown,” he said.
