PETALING JAYA: The vaccination programme for children aged 5 to 12 will start in the Klang Valley on Feb 3, health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.
He also stressed that the immunisation programme would be carried out on a voluntary basis.
He urged parents living in the Klang Valley to start booking the children’s immunisation appointments from Jan 31 through their MySejahtera app.
The vaccination programme would be carried out in stages and kick-start at Tunku Azizah Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, he said at a press conference today.
Khairy added that an eight-week interval would be implemented between the first and second dose, as it had shown to be effective in protecting children for a longer period of time.
“The data from the eight-week interval shows reduced risk of myocarditis,” he said, adding that the time frame had also been recommended by health bodies in the UK, Canada and Australia.
The ministry is waiting for the arrival of the Pfizer vaccine doses for children, which is expected from Jan 31, he added.
The ministry intends to vaccinate 70% of children in the age group with the first dose by April and 80% with the second dose by August, he said.
Priority would be given to children with health problems since they are at higher risk, especially those with chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, Khairy said.
Others to be given priority are children who are immunocompromised, diabetic, and those with chronic kidney or nerve problems.
Khairy also assured parents that the vaccination programme for children would be carried out on a voluntary basis, and the ministry’s main aim was to educate parents on the programme.
“It will not be mandatory. It is more to educate parents,” he said.
According to Khairy, almost 580,000 infections were reported among those under 18 between Jan 25, 2020 and Jan 19, 2021, and out of that almost 270,000 cases were those aged between five and 11.
He added that the majority of children and teenagers who were infected showed only mild symptoms. There were 144 deaths reported from the total number of children infected, 31 of whom were children aged five to 11.