The government today has begun to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to teenagers from the age of 12 and 17 years old, according to Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. The rollout kicks off in Sarawak while Labuan and Klang Valley will be the next on the list.
Minister Khairy says that the program will first prioritise 16 to 17-years-olds as well as those aged 12 to 15 with chronic medical conditions. They will be given the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which has received approval for use on adolescents by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency.
The initiative was first announced last week by Minister Khairy, shortly after taking the helm as Health Minister and saying that he wants to vaccinate as many teens as possible before the school term starts next year. Schools will reopen in stages starting October, beginning with states under Phase 2 or above of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
While the choice to start it in Sarawak was not revealed by the minister, the state yesterday has recorded 3200 positive cases which is the highest in the country and surpassing Selangor two days in a row that has seen a steep decline in cases. Despite that, the three states currently have some of the highest percentages of a vaccinated population, with both Labuan and Klang Valley receiving accelerated vaccination programmes to achieve their numbers.
As for children under 12, the government has not yet made a decision due to a lack of data, although the Caribbean island of Cuba yesterday became the first country to officially inoculate toddlers with the COVID-19 jab.
(Sources: Khairy Jamaluddin / Twitter. // Image: Lim Huey Teng / Reuters, Olia Danilevich / Pexels.)
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