MOH aims for 50% children COVID vaccinated before school session

SEREMBAN: The Ministry of Health (MOH) is setting a target to have 50% of Malaysian children ages five to 11 vaccinated against COVID-19 before the school session starts.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin urges parents to bring their children for vaccination to protect them from the effects of COVID-19 infections.

“What is worrying is children’s admission into the intensive care unit (ICU) due to COVID-19. Currently, only 32% of children aged five to 11 have been vaccinated under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids).

“Don’t just ‘wait and see’ as school is reopening in a week’s time. So I urge that you take your children for vaccination immediately. The vaccine cannot prevent infection but our children will be protected from the adverse effects of COVID-19,” he said to reporters after a community service programme organised by the Malaysian Association of Medical Assistants here recently.

Reintroduce health service programmes

During the event, the minister said MOH plans to hold a Health Screening Month in July. This is to encourage those above ages 40 to go for free health screenings at government hospitals and health clinics.

Khairy added that the Peka B40 health screening outreach programme was also being implemented by the MOH. It is a joint effort with private medical practitioners in rural and remote areas.

“MOH decided that one month this year be dedicated specially for health screening. I will announce the date and target number of people to be screened in that month,” he explained.

He said that not many non-COVID-19 health service programmes were implemented over the past two years due to the pandemic.

“This is the right time for those responsible to create awareness and prepare to implement health screening,” he said.