“At present, age limit has been reduced to 18 to bring public and private  universities’ students under vaccination… but, measures are also being  taken to bring all students of 12 years and above under vaccination  coverage,” she said.

She also mentioned government’s steps to administer vaccines to 50 percent  of the population by December next following the guidelines of the World  Health Organization. 

The Premier, also the Leader of the House, made these remarks in the Jatiya  Sangsad while replying to a tabled question from Jatiya Party lawmaker Md  Rostam Ali Faraji of Pirojpur-3.

She said so far, arrangements were made to collect a total of 24,65,13,660  doses of jabs while steps have been taken to get more than one crore doses of  vaccine every month.

She also added according to the schedule given by Sinopharm, a total of  six crore vaccines — two crore doses in each month — will be available in  the country till December from October.

Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury chaired the 14th session of the 11th  Jatiya Sangsad.

Sheikh Hasina said among the 24,65,13,660 doses of vaccine which is  supposed to get, a total of 4,44,31,880 doses have been received as a  bilateral purchase agreement and gift till September 12, 2021.

She said in order to bring the ongoing vaccination program to the  doorsteps of the people in all the divisional headquarters, district  headquarters and upazila headquarters, the people are already being given the  jabs through 673 vaccination centers. 

She continued that till September 12, 2021, there is 96,54,119 doses of  jabs in store.

The Prime Minister told the Sangsad that so far, a total of 3,47,77,761  doses of jabs have been given, of which, 2,09,22,715 people have received the  first dose while 1,38,55,046 people have been given the second dose.

Expressing her hope to tackle this pandemic with the cooperation of all,  she reiterated her call to countrymen to follow health safety protocol  strictly alongside taking vaccines.

She noted that when a certain population is brought under vaccination in a  certain proportion, the community is no longer infected.

She continued it is yet to be identified in the case of Coronavirus that  how many people are needed to be vaccinated in every 100 people to develop  hard immunity.

The issue is still under study and that is why the government currently  has a plan to vaccinate all Bangladeshi citizens above the age of 18 against  Covid-19, she added.

In this connection, Sheikh Hasina said, the government is continuing its  endeavor to collect vaccine from different sources.