COVID vaccine for under-40s if extra doses arrive, says health minister

The government has no plans to lower the minimum age threshold to administer COVID-19 vaccine now.

People aged below 40 will get jab if extra doses arrive, according to Health Minister Zahid Maleque.

Bangladesh is currently vaccinating health workers and others on the frontline of the fight against COVID-19 along with citizens aged above 40 as per the plan to immunise 15 million people initially, with two doses being given to each people eight weeks apart.

The minimum age was lowered from 60 following poor response for vaccine registration.

The Serum Institute of India has been supplying 30 million doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine.

If the minimum age bar is lifted, Bangladesh will need to inoculate 40 million more people, Maleque told journalists on Wednesday after a meeting on the vaccination drive, which began nearly a month ago.

“We can consider (changing) the age (limit) if we get extra vaccine,” he said. “We can even change the schedule. But we're taking the steps after being confirmed. We need to be certain that we have the second doses before changing the plan.”

The government aimed to inoculate 3.5 million people in the first month of the drive.

More than 3.34 million people have taken their first doses until Mar 2 since Feb 7. Nearly 4.6 million people have registered for the vaccine.

“The people are happy with the vaccination programme. We’ve earned accolade abroad as well for the drive,” the minister said.

He had earlier said that private hospitals will be included in the vaccination campaign, but the plan seems to have been stalled for now.