The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has requested the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) to arrange the inoculation of students, waiting to go abroad for higher education, through 'Surokkha' app.
MOFA and MOHFW sources confirmed this on Friday. In addition, MOFA has also urged not to delay the vaccination.
MOFA Secretary Masud Bin Momen has sent a letter to the MOHFW Secretary to vaccinate these students on a priority basis.
A number of students and their parents went to the MOFA on Thursday morning to resolve the issue of vaccination.
Although a directive was given to the students to contact Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get vaccinated, it was later withdrawn.
In this regard, Masud Bin Momen told the media that there are two issues to be considered in vaccinating students going abroad. China's guidelines state that those who go to study in that country must take the Sinopharm vaccine. Bangladesh has a policy agreement in this regard.
"We also have the Chinese vaccine. Again, many western countries, including the United States, Canada or Europe, have not approved the Sinopharm vaccine. Only the Pfizer and Modern vaccines will be applicable there. I have sent a letter to the health secretary to solve this issue.", he added.
In response to a question, the Foreign Secretary said that the issue has been mentioned so that these students can be vaccinated through the 'Surokkha' app. Apart from that, the Ministry of Health has also been requested to ensure that the students who have completed all the formalities of going abroad get vaccinated as soon as possible.
