About 50pc of children in Penang yet to register for PICKids, says Chow

GEORGE TOWN, March 4 ― A total 155,600 children, between the ages of five and 11 years old, in Penang have yet to register under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Kids (PICKids), said Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

In appealing to parents to register their children for vaccination as soon as possible, he said this means up to about 50 per cent of children in Penang who are eligible for PICKids have yet to register for it.

According to data revealed at the Penang Covid-19 Management committee meeting yesterday, he said those registered for PICKids are only 19.6 per cent for national schools, 81 per cent for Chinese schools, 15.8 per cent for Tamil schools and 16.4 per cent for religious schools.

“We are calling on everyone in Penang to register for their booster shots and for parents to register their children under PICKids,” he said in a statement today.

He said, as at March 3, out of the 1.77 million population in the state, 90 per cent has taken the first dose of the vaccine, 86.2 per cent has received the second dose and only 72.7 per cent or 993,432 individuals have received the booster dose.

“In view of the Omicron cases in Penang now, vaccination is the best measure to reduce Brought in Death (BID) cases and cases of those infected with serious symptoms.

He referred to the health ministry data that reveal that about 91 per cent of BID cases were due to those who were unaware that they were infected with Covid-19 while out of the total, only nine per cent have received their booster dose while the rest have not taken their booster doses.

Overall, Chow said the Covid-10 situation and medical facilities in the state are still under control.

He stressed that the state government, the state health department and related agencies are always ready with complete contingency plans to face any eventuality.

He advised those with symptoms to immediately conduct self-tests and they can also walk in to any of the five Covid-19 Assessment Centres or call the hotlines 04-3827143/04 or 3827142 for further information.