'The arms are not there': Less than 50% of kids vaccinated against Covid-19

A total of 1.76 million or 49.8% of children aged five to 11 had received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine as of yesterday, says Deputy Health Minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali.

He said of the total, 1.5 million or 42.3% had completed their vaccination while 1,030 children in the moderate-to-severe immunocompromised category within the same age range had received a third dose.

However, 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 vaccination programme for children. The staff are doing a good job, the response and cooperation from state governments is also good, and the response from private clinics is encouraging.

"But the arms are not there," he said when replying to Wong Chen (PH-Subang) in the Dewan Rakyat today.
 
Noor Azmi said the health ministry was still continuing its efforts to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated, including through electronic and social media.

To date, he said, there were 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 a second dose.