KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 – Covid-19 vaccines for under-12 children (PICKids) will be rolled out in 1,055 primary schools nationwide from Monday.
Deputy Health Minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said jabs will be offered to students from those school vaccination sites (PPVs) or neighbouring schools.
The school administration will provide a list of eligible children for coronavirus shots. The vaccines will be administered by the school health team or private medical practitioners.
Parents or guardians need to register their children as dependents on the MySejahtera mobile app to get Covid-19 vaccination appointment dates and digital vaccine certificates for their offspring.
For parents or guardians without MySejahtera, the school administration will inform them about the date and location of Covid-19 jabs for their children.
“The MOE (Ministry of Education) has agreed to help arrange group appointments for vaccination in school or in vaccination centres identified by the district health office or the district education office for Covid-19 vaccination,” Dr Noor Azmi said in a statement today.
To avoid congestion in school PPVs, only one parent or guardian is allowed to accompany their child for vaccination.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) advises parents to ensure that their child rest the night before the day of their jab and to eat breakfast and drink enough water before visiting the PPV.
Parents should also ensure that their child does not engage in high-energy activities for seven days after Covid-19 vaccination.
MOH targets vaccinating 3.6 million children aged five to under 12 years against Covid-19. As of yesterday, 79,393 kids have received their first vaccine dose, with the highest number of inoculated children in Selangor (28,661), followed by Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (17,887), Sarawak (17,877), Sabah (4,962), Melaka (3,425), and Negeri Sembilan (2,728).
Since PICKids began on February 3, about 2.2 per cent of children have received at least one vaccine dose.