Vaccination programme for children kicks off today

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) will kick off in the Klang Valley today.

Under PICKids, an estimated four million children aged between five and 11 are eligible to receive the mRNA vaccine, Comirnaty 10mcg Concentrate for Dispersion (Pfizer-BioNTech), which will be administered under the programme.

In the Klang Valley, some 47,500 children in Kuala Lumpur, 3,400 in Putrajaya and 131,500 in Selangor have registered for PICKids.

There are three vaccination centres for children (PPVKids) for parents to choose from when booking their child’s vaccination appointment slot through MySejahtera.

The PPVs are at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur and Axiata Arena Bukit Jalil as well as the IDEAL Convention Centre (IDCC) in Shah Alam

In addition, 24 more PPVKids around the Klang Valley will be available starting Feb 5.

The list of PPV can be obtained from the official website or social media sites of the Covid-19 Special Immunisation Task Force (CITF).

Several parents interviewed believe the decision to vaccinate their children is the right one.

Ahmad Sufian Abdul Karim, 46, said he wants his children to be given the Covid-19 vaccine just as how other vaccines are recommended to prevent infectious diseases.

As soon as he received a notification via MySejahtera yesterday, he booked an appointment for his five-year-old son.

“The whole process was smooth and quick. My son will be getting his vaccine on Saturday,” Ahmad Suffian, who has completed his Covid-19 primary and booster shots, said.

Fong Yee Zie, 38, meanwhile, said his two daughters have appointments for Sunday, and believed vaccination was the best way to protect them from contracting the virus.

There were also parents who were not yet ready to vaccinate their children and are taking a wait and see approach on how the PICKids process works out, including reports of side effects on children.

Civil servant Farhah P. Ramlee, 38, has yet to register her three children for the Covid-19 vaccination, but is ready to consider.

Sales manager Ahmad Ghazi Fadillah, 42, is also taking a similar approach for his six-year-old girl for fear that she would not be able to withstand the side effects similar to what he experienced after getting the second dose of the vaccine last month.