Kayanat, a nursery student, was a bit worried when she came to Senpara Parbata Government Primary School to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot. But her worries were over pretty soon and she was smiling as she left the school grounds with her mother.
She was initially nervous but ended up enjoying the experience, especially when the teachers gave her some chocolate afterwards.
Monowara Akter, Kayanat’s mother, said she felt relieved that her child got the shot as she will be protected from the virus from now on.
“I hope now she'll be protected against the coronavirus. We all took the shot. She was initially reluctant, but grew more enthusiastic and has agreed to get another shot if it is given out," said Monowara, a resident of Section 7 in Mirpur.
Students from different grades were seen coming to the Senpara Parbata Govt Primary School to take the COVID vaccine. The authorities started with the students in the nursery, reports bdnews24.com.
Most of them were terrified, but the teachers distributed chocolates to boost their morale.
Shaheena Begum, the mother of nursery student Taskin Ahmed, said their entire family had previously taken the COVID vaccine and were waiting for her younger son to receive it.
She thanked the government for taking the initiative to vaccinate the younger children.
As many as 300 students will receive the vaccine on the first day at the centre, said Musafizur Rahman, vice principal of the Senpara Parbata Government Primary School.
“Everyone is interested. The small children are a little afraid, but they are overcoming the fear after receiving the shot.”
The government rolled out a drive to vaccinate children aged between 5 to 11 years against the coronavirus in 12 city corporations, including Dhaka, at 9 am on Thursday. They are receiving a COVID-19 vaccine designed for children by Pfizer.
The vaccination programme for children will continue for two weeks. In Dhaka, the programme is being held at 21 schools in both city corporations.
State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Zakir Hossain inaugurated the vaccination programme at the Nilkhet Government Primary School centre on Thursday.
Currently, only school children in city corporation areas are getting the vaccine. The Directorate General of Health Services plans to start a separate vaccination programme to include the children who are not in school.
“After the city corporations, we will provide the vaccine to children at the district and upazila level. Eventually, all children will be vaccinated,” the state minister said.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque inaugurated the vaccination programme for the age group with trial doses of the COVID shot given to children on Aug 11. A total of 17 children between 5 to 11 years of age took the shots at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Abul Bashar Government Primary School.
Although the vaccination programme formally began on Thursday in 12 city corporations, at least 300 children already took the jab on Wednesday in Chattogram.
The government rolled out the vaccination drive for people aged 55 and older on Feb 8, 2021, to combat the coronavirus infection. Later, the age for receiving the COVID vaccine was lowered and, eventually, students aged 12 to 17 began to receive the vaccine.
On Jul 30, Bangladesh received more than 1.5 million doses of special Pfizer vaccine made for children from the US under the COVAX programme.
The US sent another 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Bangladesh on Tuesday.
