School-going students, aged 12-17, will be vaccinated in schools across the country, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday.

The minister said, “We have been vaccinating students of four to five schools through one school till now.”

“In this case, we see that various complications were being created including registration. So, we decided to go to every school and vaccinate the students,” he added.

Read: Vaccination campaign for school students to begin on Nov 1

The minister informed this at a function organized by the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) in the capital on Thursday afternoon.

Asked about when this activity would start, Zahid Maleque said “We're getting ready. We'll be able to start vaccinating in schools in a few days,” the minister added.

Besides, this vaccination program will also be conducted regularly in the schools which are already being vaccinated, he said.

The minister also said, “Vaccinating school students is a huge challenge.”

On November 1, the new campaign to vaccinate school students, aged 12-17, against Covid-19 kicked off at 12 centers in Dhaka.

The school students are vaccinated with US-made Pfizer vaccine as it is suitable for them.

“However, the catastrophe that awaits us even bigger than Covid-19 is antimicrobial resistance,” said the minister.

Read: 112 Manikganj students vaccinated under trial run

Stopping consumption of antibiotics unnecessarily is the only solution to prevent antimicrobial resistance, he said. The purchase and sale of antibiotics without a registered physician, dentist and veterinarian should be stopped completely.

Zahid Maleque said, "We will enact a law to stop buying or selling antibiotics without a prescription. The law is awaiting final approval."

Earlier, the health minister inaugurated the online drug license, a new initiative of the DGDA.