KJ: Some 1.2 million aged below 18 have registered for jabs

PETALING JAYA: Some 1.2 million individuals aged below 18 in Malaysia have registered to get vaccinated, said Khairy Jamaluddin.

The Science, Technology and Innovation Minister said this was out of the 20.13 million people who have registered to get vaccinated as of July 26.

“There is a total of 20,134,971 people who have registered for their vaccination, or the equivalent of 61.7% of the entire Malaysian population of 32.7 million people,” said the the coordinating minister of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme

Khairy added in his briefing session in Parliament on Wednesday (July 28) that of this, 18.8 million people are those aged 18 and above while 1.2 million people are individuals below the age of 18

Currently, those aged 18 and below are allowed to register for their jabs, although the vaccination rollout for this group is still being reviewed for its benefits and risks.

At the moment, only children with chronic health conditions will be prioritised for vaccination.

Khairy added that the overall registration rate is still below the target vaccination coverage of 80% under the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme.

However, he noted that 80.5% of the adult population have registered while 89% of senior citizens aged 60 and above have also registered for their vaccination.