No Vaccine for People under 18: Health Minister

Health Minister Zahid Maleque said that about 40 percent of the population under the age of 18 will not be offered the Covid-19 vaccine.

"They are not being vaccinated anywhere in the world and no trial is being carried out on them," the minister revealed while speaking to reporters after visiting the vaccine laboratory at the Department of Drug Administration's National Control Laboratory on Sunday, media reports.

Zahid Maleque said, "Besides, 20 percent of the population would get the Covid-19 vaccine, which is about five and a half crore of the total population."

He also said, "One crore people live outside the country. As we have it, about five and a half crore people will not need the vaccine at the moment. And the vaccine that will be given is also about five and a half crore. So the gap (the rest of the population) is not large, we will fill in the gaps in stages."

"We have seen two labs here. One is for medicine and another for vaccine," he added.

"The medicine lab has been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). With that approval, the lab gained international recognition. The quality of the medicines is constantly being checked here and all that is needed is done to maintain that quality. The covid-19 vaccine will also be tested in this laboratory in the future," the minister concluded.