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State to focus on vaccinating younger lot next

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When in public, children must wear face masks. Adults around them should wear masks too.

KUCHING: Sarawak is one step closer to vaccinating children aged five to 11 against Covid-19, said Public Health, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian.

He said this in response to the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) conditional registration approval of the use of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for children in this age group.

“The five to 11-year-olds will be the remaining gap in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) (to be vaccinated) in view of the surge of the Omicron variant and school reopening as we enter Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP),” he said in a Facebook post on Friday (Jan 7).

As such, Dr Sim who is also Deputy Chief Minister, said the state government would continue to work closely with Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin so that Sarawak could roll out the programme as quickly as possible.

“Thanks to Sarawak’s spirit of solidarity, we are the fastest and among the highest in the administration of dose one and two for adults and those 12 to 18 as well as administration of the booster dose for adults under PICK in Malaysia,” he said.

He added that Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg had also instructed to standby to help the federal government acquire vaccines for Sarawakians.

“At the same time, Sarawak local medical experts are closely monitoring the emerging global scientific data of vaccination for three to five-year-olds as immunity through vaccination is better than immunity through natural infections,” he said. 

On Jan 6, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the Comirnaty 10mcg concentrate for dispersion for injection is an approved vaccine for Covid-19 immunisation in children aged five to 11.

He said the dosage was lower than the Comirnaty vaccine given to individuals aged 12 and above.

This decision was made following a meeting of the Drug Control Authority (DCA) on Jan 6.

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