Bangladesh aims to vaccinate nearly half of its population against COVID-19 by next January, mostly with vaccines produced by Chinese companies. 

Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Monday the Bangladeshi government is working to vaccinate 80 million people by December and January, Bangladesh's state-run news agency BSS reported.

The minister said the government is considering vaccinating children aged between 12 and 17 years.

Bangladesh has already announced a target of vaccinating 80 percent of its population by 2022. The South Asian country has so far got nearly 70 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine – largely China's Sinopharm vaccines.

The inoculation drive in Bangladesh is running smoothly, thanks mainly to China's continuous support.

Bangladesh launched the vaccine rollout in January. Amid uncertainty about a timely vaccine shipment from India, the Bangladeshi government halted administering the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

In June, the vaccination drive resumed in parts of the country with China-donated Sinopharm vaccines.

As of Saturday, 36,178,946 people in Bangladesh have reportedly received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 17,940,300 were fully vaccinated. Coronavirus infection and fatality rates have fallen significantly since August, according to the Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS).