University and medical students will be inoculated on a priority basis once 1.5 crore vaccine doses arrive in the country from China, said Zahid Maleque, the Minister for Health.
He came up with the assertion while talking to reporters after a cabinet meeting at the secretariat on Monday.
The health minister also said, “There are millions of students in the country's universities and their vaccination is not a hard nut to crack. They will get jabs gradually following the registration. Once the availability of the vaccines is confirmed, the registration process will be started again.”
“We hope all the universities will start academic activities soon. Therefore, we will try to give priority to all the tertiary level students and teachers."
When asked about the lockdown, he said, “In the districts where transmission is on the rise, lockdown is recommended as soon as possible. The economy collapses in the corona affected countries. We do not want our economy to suffer.”
However, despite the increase in transmission, lockdowns were not imposed in seven border districts.
Zahid Maleque said that there was no lockdown in these districts so that the farmers could market seasonal fruits including mango and litchi.
Meanwhile, the minister said that Pfizer's vaccine will also be given according to the registration. If there are any students in it, it will also be given to them.
Regarding the Chinese vaccine, he said, “Five million doses of Chinese vaccine will come by phases in June, July and August. The same amount of vaccines will come from Russia as well. Russia has received a proposal in this regard. An agreement will be inked soon.”
He also said that efforts to bring the AstraZeneca vaccine from India were still on. If 50 million people are vaccinated, the country's infection can be controlled.
