120 Manikganj students vaccinated under trial run

Manikganj Correspondent: Some 120 students of two government schools in Manikganj were vaccinated yesterday with Pfizer jabs as part of a test run of the government for vaccinating school students against Covid-19.
All the vaccinated students were of the 12-17 age group.
Sixty of the students were from Manikganj Government Boys High School while another 60 from SK Government Girls High School.
Inaugurating the trial run at 12 pm at Manikganj Colonel Malek Medical College, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said, “This vaccine (Pfizer) is safe and has been given to school kids in Europe and America as well.”
“We want our children to be safe, too. Soon, school children across the country will be brought under the vaccination drive,” he said.
Mobashbir Rahman Rafid, a 10th grader of Manikganj Government Boys High School, is the first child to receive Covid shot in Bangladesh.
“I was a little bit scared at first. But I felt no discomfort after receiving the vaccine. I’m over the moon to be the first child to be vaccinated,” he said.
Meanwhile, Taslima Akhter, another 10th grader of SK Government Girls High School, was the first schoolgirl to be vaccinated in the country.
“Since school reopened, I have been suffering from a sense of fear to join classes because of Covid. Now I can attend classes without fear,” she said.
Principal of Colonel Malek Medical College and Hospital Dr Md Zakir Hossain said they are yet to receive any complaint from the vaccinated children.
On January 27, Prime Minister Hasina launched the Covid-19 vaccination programme at Kurmitola General Hospital through a videoconference.
The government rolled out a countrywide mass Covid-19 vaccination drive on February 7 vaccinating people aged 55 and above in the first phase. On July 29, the government lowered the minimum age limit for taking Covid-19 jabs to 25 from 30 years in a bid to give a boost to the lagging vaccination rates in the country.