Voon Shiak Ni
KUCHING (Aug 30): The Sarawak government should provide an option for parents to register their children aged 12 to 15 for Covid-19 vaccination as soon as possible, said social activist Voon Shiak Ni.
Voon said it was heart-wrenching to hear the recent cases of two children aged 17 and nine falling victim to Covid-19 in the state and passed away.
“We also understand that the federal government are still waiting for medical experts’ advice to formulate national policy on the vaccination roll-out for children aged 17 and below due to concerns of possible adverse side effects of the vaccines, such as heart inflammation,” she said in a statement.
Voon welcomed the positive move taken by the state government to make their own decision to proceed with vaccinating children aged 15 to 17 with the exercise supposedly to begin as soon as possible.
“The people of Sarawak were given to understand that the infectious Delta variant is identified as the dominant Covid-19 variant and in the circumstances, it is a grave concern of many parents that their children are not vaccinated yet.”
She said countries including France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan and Singapore have started vaccinating their young population aged between 12 to 17 with first dose of the vaccine.
Voon added no doubt it was a public concern that Covid-19 may seek out the unvaccinated and this posed a risk to young children who had yet to receive their vaccine.
She also observed that the movement of people in Kuching remained high and the public should take precautionary measures to reduce their potential exposure to Covid-19 virus.
“I would like to gently advise everyone that since the Delta variant is raging in town, it is good that families avoid frequent shopping or marketing trips to crowded markets by planning and getting a whole week ration via one or two trips to market,” said Voon.