Only 42.3 pct of children in Malaysia fully vaccinated against COVID-19

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 (Bernama) -- A total of 1.76 million or 49.8 per cent of children aged between five and 11 in the country have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of yesterday, said Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali.

He said of the total, 1.5 million or 42.3 per cent of the population have completed the vaccination while 1,030 children in the moderate to severe immunocompromised category within the same age range have received the third dose.

However, Dr Noor Azmi said, the percentage was still low compared to the number of vaccination facilities provided for that group.

"It's been almost six months since we launched the COVID-19 vaccine programme for children, the staff are doing a good job, the response and cooperation from state governments are also good, the response from private clinics is also encouraging.

"But the arms are not there," he said when replying to a question from Wong Chen (PH-Subang) in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Dr Noor Azmi said the Health Ministry (MOH) was still continuing its efforts to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated including through electronic and social media.

To date, he said there are still 926 private premises that provide vaccination facilities and 14 off-site vaccination centres.

Meanwhile, for children who missed their second dose of vaccine, he said parents can contact the nearest health clinic to make an appointment for the second dose.

-- BERNAMA