KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 — Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali reassured parents that they will receive vaccination appointments for their school-going children, aged 12 to 17, soon.
He asked parents not to panic and rush to vaccination centres (PPVs) in a bid to secure anti-Covid-19 jabs for their children.
He further explained that the school will inform them of their children’s vaccination details such as the date, time and location.
“I would like to tell parents, please don’t worry, don’t be afraid and don’t be anxious. We have enough vaccines for all. Perhaps, in the beginning, when we registered and didn’t get an appointment, it was because the vaccines we procured had not arrived yet.
“But now, we have enough vaccines for 3.2 million teenagers and it is our mission to ensure that no child is left behind.
“So please, don’t rush to the PPVs. Wait for further instructions. For students attending school, they will receive their appointment informing them of the time and location from their school. So this is clear and there is no need to panic,” he said.
Under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) for Adolescents or PICK Youth, the government aims to inoculate about 3.2 million teenagers aged 12 to 17 by year-end.
For further context, appointments for the adolescent immunisation programme will be decided by schools, which will then inform parents of the date, time and location.
Private school students will receive their vaccine via a school PPV in the form of a scheduled vaccination or an outreach programme by the Ministry of Health, other healthcare organisations or appointments at private health facilities.
Starting tomorrow, however, children between the ages of 12 and 17 who do not attend school can go to any of the 156 centres set up by the Health Ministry nationwide to receive their Covid-19 vaccine.
Dr Noor Azmi added that special needs students, such as those with ADHD, autism, or mental disabilities, will receive their vaccine via appointments at health facilities, while teenagers in rehabilitation centres will receive their vaccine on site.
PICK Youth officially kicked off on September 20 and has vaccinated 410,489 teenagers as of September 21.
In terms of states, Sabah leads with 140,890 shots, followed by Sarawak (85,291), Kedah (31,294), Kelantan (17,413), Johor (27,936) and Labuan (2,515).
