Children will have until May 15 to receive their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine under the PICKids vaccination program.
The Health Ministry says it is because the government will soon no longer give out the (Pfizer-BioNTech) Comirnaty and (Sinovac) CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccines to kids aged 5 to 11.
Photo via Utusan
According to the ministry’s Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali, it is to avoid wasting the Pfizer vaccine due to a low uptake for the jab.
As such, starting May 16, the Pfizer vaccine for children will no longer be available at any public or private facilities.
However, recipients can pay to take the Sinovac jab at private facilities.
The Deputy Minister says parents who have yet to register their kids to receive the COVID-19 vaccine can do so via the MySejahtera app by May 8 at the latest.
Dr Noor Azmi adds that this decision does not involve vaccinations for children born in 2017 who have not reached the age of five on May 15.
He says details for this group will be announced soon.
The PICKids vaccination program kicked off on February 3 and so far, only 1,374,520 kids have been given one dose, accounting for 38.7% of children aged 5 to 11.
Meanwhile, 6.5% of kids are now fully vaccinated.
Please get your kids vaccinated soon because no one is safe until everyone is safe!
By: Elle Firdouz
