Low vaccination rate among Islamic school students a concern, says Penang

 

Only 27% of Penang’s Islamic school students have received at least one dose of the vaccine compared with 90% of adolescents above 12 in regular schools.

GEORGE TOWN: More than 70% of teens at Islamic schools in Penang have yet to be vaccinated against Covid-19, the state government said today.

This pales in comparison to adolescents above 12 in regular schools, with almost 90% having had their first dose of the vaccine since the drive began on Oct 1 and will receive their second dose from today, state health data show.

Penang health committee chairman Norlela Ariffin said from data gleaned from three categories of religious schools in the state – tahfiz, sekolah menengah agama rakyat (SMAR) and pondok – only 27% had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

“Even Kelantan, which has many pondok schools, has started giving booster dose shots,” she told FMT.

“I hope that parents and guardians will bring their children to the nearest 10 vaccination centres in the state before they close on Oct 31.”

According to Norlela, there are 5,654 students at Islamic-related education institutions in Penang, with tahfiz schools having the most (2,659). However, only 7.5% of the tahfiz students have been vaccinated.

Nearly 60% of the SMAR students have received their vaccines, and only 20% of the 1,161 pondok school students have received theirs.

In regular schools, 89.3% of 126,452 students have received their first dose and will receive their second dose from today. - FMT