Vaccination screening in primary schools next month
Published on: Friday, July 22, 2016
Putra Jaya: The Health Ministry is coming down hard on parents who have not vaccinated their children with a screening programme in collaboration with the Education Ministry.Health Minister S Subramaniam said his Ministry would work with the Education Ministry in the hope of identifying children who might have missed several or all vaccinations required.He said students in Primary Five will be the first to be screened in the programme, which could start as early as next month.
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"During the first month of the exercise, immunisation records of children from Primary Five would have to be presented to the school."After that, only Primary One and Primary Four students will be screened," Subramaniam said.He added that from now on, parents are to present their children's immunisation records upon registering them for Primary One.Subramaniam said the Education Ministry must also conduct screenings for Form One students as well.
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"Currently, we have blood tests and vaccinations done for Form One girls. I have asked the Education Ministry to also conduct checks for boys as well."All this is in line with our efforts to find those who haven't fulfilled the necessary vaccinations.
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It is just one of the steps that we are taking and we think it is suitable to have screenings in schools as it is more difficult to have screenings for the general public," he said.In the case of a child who has not fulfilled the required vaccinations, the Health Ministry would then advise the child's parents on the steps they should take, such as acquiring replacement injections.When asked about parents who were against vaccinations, Subramaniam said that the Health Ministry would "deal with them differently.""For that group, we would suggest scientific and religious levels of counselling. We will deal with that group in a different manner," he said.Asked about the resources needed to carry out the screening programme and subsequent vaccinations for those who have not had it, Subramaniam admitted the Ministry will need more staff."We are ready, but for now we need additional staff. We might mobilise nursing schools and nursing students," he said.On a separate matter, Subramaniam said that the Health Ministry was still in the midst of investigating the 41-year-old woman who contracted diphtheria."It is not very easy to go through 41 years of records. We cannot conclude anything just yet," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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