Options for teens to get jabs

PUTRAJAYA: Teenagers will be able to walk in for their Covid-19 jabs at selected vaccination centres (PPV), says Khairy Jamaluddin.

The Health Minister said this was one of the methods that adolescents aged 12 to 17 can get their Covid-19 jabs, besides receiving them at schools.

“Tomorrow (today), we will be announcing a list of PPV in states where teenagers can walk in and receive their vaccination.

“This will be at centres that are currently still in operation.

“So right now, teenagers have a couple of ways to get vaccinated. Either they wait to receive their appointments from school PPV or they can walk in to these selected PPV,” Khairy told a press conference after observing the vaccination process for teenagers at SMK Putrajaya Precinct 8 (1) here yesterday.

Also present were Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin and Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Khairy said teenagers going to PPV under the walk-in category must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

“The teenager’s parent or guardian will be required to fill up the consent form at the PPV, and they need to sign it in the presence of a doctor,” he added.

The government is targeting at least 60% of teenagers to receive at least one vaccination dose by November, with the aim of having 80% of teenagers fully vaccinated by next January.

The immunisation programme for adolescents started in Sarawak on Sept 8 and in Labuan on Sept 11.

Taking precautions: Nurse Noraina Salikon checking a student’s registration form at a school’s vaccination room at SMK presint 8(1) in Putrajaya. — AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star

Yesterday, teenagers in Putrajaya, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Kedah, Perlis and Pahang also started receiving their Covid-19 jabs.

Some 3.2 million teenagers in the country aged 12 to 17 are expected to be covered by the Covid-19 immunisation programme.

Khairy said there had been no reports of side effects among the first 85,000 teenagers who had been vaccinated up to Sept 16.

He said it was important for adolescents to get vaccinated, as there had been a surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths involving those under 18.

“In 2020, there were 12,620 cases involving those under 18. This rose to 400,668 in 2021 alone, as at Sept 16.

“Of that, 252,569 cases involved schoolchildren while 42,831 of them were pre-school children.

“A total of 62 children died from Covid-19 in 2021 as at Sept 16, compared to six deaths in 2020.

“Therefore, it is important that we give adolescents protection through vaccination,” he added.

On children below the age of 12, Khairy said the best that Malaysia could do for now was to ensure all teachers and support staff in education institutions were fully vaccinated.

This is because the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) has yet to approve the use of any Covid-19 vaccine on children under 12 years old, and until then, the ministry must ensure that people within the education ecosystem are protected.

As for the supply of vaccines, Khairy said Malaysia had enough to vaccinate teenagers as well as the upcoming booster shot programme.

The government had earlier announced that it would be giving Covid-19 vaccine booster shots to frontliners and the elderly once the mass immunisation coverage reached 80% of the adult population nationwide.

On the single-dose CanSino vaccine, Khairy said the government would be monitoring its usage in other countries on whether there was need to implement booster shots.