KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysia's Covid-19 vaccination programme for children aged five to 12 will begin on Feb 3, said the Health Ministry.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said parents can book appointment slots via the MySejahtera contact tracing app beginning on Jan 31 and the process will be in phases starting with the Klang Valley.
Mr Khairy said the programme will utilise a special vaccine formulation for children, which is by Pfizer, and it will be a two-dose regime with an eight-week interval.
Each dose will be 0.2ml and contains 10 micrograms of the mRNA vaccine, which is one-third of what is given to adults.
"Based on current data, the eight-week interval will produce a stronger immunity response and has higher efficiency.
"The interval is able to reduce the risk of myocarditis and this is recommended by world health bodies including the United States, Canada and Australia," said Mr Khairy at a press conference held at Parliament on Thursday (Jan 20).
Mr Khairy said the vaccination programme for children will be officially launched on Feb 3 at Hospital Tunku Azizah in Kuala Lumpur.
He said the vaccine programme will prioritise children with underlying conditions such as chronic respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, immunosuppression, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and nerve disease.
"This is because this group of children are more at risk of getting severe Covid-19, including being put in intensive care units," he added.
Mr Khairy that the government has procured more than six million doses of Pfizer's vaccine for children and these are expected to arrive in Malaysia from Jan 31.
"In terms of supply, it is adequate. But we will not make vaccines for children mandatory. Our approach will be more of education where we convince parents to see the benefits of vaccination for children," said Mr Khairy.
Separately, Mr Khairy said there is no need to close all boarding schools even after the emergence of 27 new Covid-19 clusters this year coming from these institutions.
"We have vaccinated 90 per cent of our teenagers to date. Covid-19 infections are going to happen; this is something that we cannot avoid.
The majority of the cases at the boarding schools are either mild or asymptomatic infections, and the positive ones can be isolated. So I see that there is no need to impose a blanket ruling and close all boarding schools. I think that is a backward move," he said.
Mr Khairy said that from the first epidemiology week of 2022 up to Jan 19, a total of 52 Covid-19 clusters involving the education sector had emerged.
Some 30 clusters (57.7 per cent) involve secondary schools, of which 27 of them are boarding schools.
