Vaccinate students before schools reopen, says minister

 

The health ministry has announced that children, aged 12 to 17, will be vaccinated beginning Sept 15.

SERI ISKANDAR: Schoolchildren, especially those aged 12 to 17, must be vaccinated before the reopening of schools, scheduled on Sept 1, said women, family and community development minister Rina Harun.

She said the vaccination programme was urgently needed because these children were also at risk of getting infected by the Covid-19 virus.

“Students are not immune from the disease. I hope once the adults are fully vaccinated, children, especially between the ages of 12 and 17, will be vaccinated.

“We must remember that children in this age group are attending school. I truly hope they will be given the vaccine with the cooperation of the education ministry before schools reopen,” she said after visiting the Rumah Seri Kenangan Seri Iskandar, 45km from Ipoh, today.

Yesterday, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced that children, aged from 12 to 17, will be vaccinated beginning Sept 15.

Rina hoped that women who are 14 to 33 weeks pregnant would be given priority at all vaccination centres.

“I understand that almost 60% of the 150,000 pregnant women have registered for the vaccination,” she said.

On her visit to Rumah Seri Kenangan Seri Iskandar, she said the ministry had donated RM494,400 to Pertubuhan Restu Amal Jasa Malaysia for a pilot project on elderly care.

She said the programme had a special focus on creating and sharing good practices to improve the effectiveness of services involving senior citizens.

She also hoped that the six-month programme, beginning next month, would improve the quality and services offered to the 103 senior citizens at the home. - FMT