Sarawak will be pioneer if it vaccinates those under 18, says health expert

 

Sarawak has fully vaccinated 76% of its adult population.

KOTA KINABALU: If Sarawak goes ahead with its plan to vaccinate young people against Covid-19, it could serve as an example for the rest of the country, a public health expert said.

Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy chief executive Azrul Mohd Khalib noted that Sarawak has managed to fully vaccinate 76% of its adults, representing 55% of its population.

“What Sarawak does could help pave the way for how we should proceed in the future from a national perspective. This would include vaccinating children and young people, and considering booster jabs,” he said.

Sarawak disaster management committee adviser Dr Sim Kui Hian said yesterday the state government had asked the Sarawak Covid-19 Advisory Group (Scovag) to evaluate whether children below 18 could be given a Covid-19 vaccine.

Azrul Mohd Khalib.

He was quoted by Borneo Post Online as saying this was decided after 31%, or 260 out of 836 confirmed cases yesterday, involved those below the age of 18.

“As Sarawak’s population has been vaccinated far ahead of the country, and about 29% of our population is younger than 18, we should not wait for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme’s policy and we have asked Scovag to evaluate this group for vaccination,” he said on Facebook.

Azrul said more children and young people were increasingly getting infected in Sarawak, with some even dying.

“Despite tremendous success in its vaccination programme, Sarawak is seeing a rise in the rate of confirmed cases, which imply that unvaccinated people will be at tremendous risk, especially the young and not vaccinated,” he said.

Dr Kew Seih Teck.

He said the benefits of vaccinating children and young people in this age group outweighed the risks.

Dr Kew Seih Teck, a consultant paediatrician at Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s medicine and health sciences faculty, said a survey among paediatricians found a majority favoured vaccinating children aged between 12 and 17.

“We, as paediatricians, started a survey among ourselves and the result shows that 80% of those who replied agree on vaccinating children in the age group,” he said. - FMT