A file photo shows a 12-year-old receiving his Covid-19 vaccine in Los Angeles, California on May 13, 2021. Sarawak hopes to start vaccinating those below the age of 18 soon to protect them against Covid-19. — AFP photo
KUCHING (Sept 2): Sarawak hopes to start vaccinating those below the age of 18 soon to protect them against Covid-19, said Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian.
The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor pointed out this age group makes up about 29 per cent of Sarawak’s population.
He said with the State’s extraordinary efforts in vaccination starting in June, the Covid-19 pandemic turned endemic at the end of last month.
“As for 29 per cent of Sarawakians below 18, we want to first vaccinate 16- to 17-year-olds, then 12- to 15-year-olds, soonest possible. Pfizer vaccine is approved by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Division (NPRA) for both age groups,” he said in a Facebook post last night.
The Local Government and Housing Minister said that after vaccination has been completed for these two groups, the inoculation programme would be carried out on children aged three to 11, but this would require NPRA’s approval soon to save lives.
On the recent surge in the number of new Covid-19 cases in Sarawak, he said this was due to more people being willing to be tested, which resulted in more cases being reported.
However, he pointed out that the number of Covid-19 deaths in the State is declining compared to the rest of Malaysia as a result of the high vaccination rate despite the presence of the Delta variant.
While there is no need to panic due to the high number of new cases, Dr Sim said the public must remain alert to slow the level of transmission in order not to overwhelm healthcare facilities and stretch medical front-liners to the maximum.
Sarawak has recorded more than 2,000 new Covid-19 cases daily since Aug 26.
The state’s highest record to date was 2,548 cases on Aug 20.