SIBU: Strong cooperation between the hospital authority, the community, and non-governmental organisations (NGO) has contributed to the high vaccination rate among children aged five to 11 against COVID-19 in the state.
Minister for Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah disclosed this to reporters when visiting a vaccination centre at the Agape Centre here on Saturday (April 16).
Despite the high rate of vaccination recorded Fatimah urged parents who had been reluctant to get their children vaccinated to come forward and have them vaccinated.
“We have a very high percentage of children aged five to 11 receiving their vaccination. But there are still parents who still want to wait and see.
“We want parents of children with special needs and normal children to get them vaccinated so that they can go back to school face to face, no more schooling online,” she said.
Fatimah pointed out that children would face numerous challenges if their education was to be conducted via online learning.
“The very important parts of education are the interaction between them and their teachers. Physical interaction and also the socialisation process with their peers are essential.
“Hence, if it (education) is done online there will be something missing in their schooling process as well as in the education of the child.
“So to make sure they can go to school like they did before COVID-19 without fear because they know that they are being protected compared to if they are not vaccinated,” she said.
at present, a total of 286,000 children from this age group in the state have received their first dose and 46,000 their second dose.
Fatimah revealed that for Sibu Division the vaccination rate for these children was 88.3% (first dose) while for the second dose, the percentage is 20%.
“So we hope those parents who are still reluctant to come forward and please with your children so that they can be protected,” she said.
