Kuala Lumpur: Parents may apply for Covid-19 vaccination appointments for their children aged between five and 11 through the MySejahtera application beginning January 31, the Health Ministry announced today.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said parents may register their children as their dependents beginning January 31, with registration priorities given to parents residing in Klang Valley.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Covid-19 infections among children especially after the opening of the school year,” he said in a statement.
“In addition, the new Omicron variant is found to be easily spread and has a high potential of infecting children as well as adults.
“Looking at the necessity to protect our child population, the Health Ministry though the Drug Control Authority having analysed the safety data and effectiveness, have agreed to grant conditional approval to the Comirnaty 10mcg Concentrate for Dispersion (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine on January 6 for use in children aged five to 11 years,” he said.
The vaccination programme — dubbed Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) — will be officially launched at Hospital Tunku Azizah, Kuala Lumpur, on February 3.
This followed the recent announcement made by the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee (JKJAV) on inoculation of children aged between five and 11, scheduled to begin next month.
In a tweet yesterday, JKJAV said those eligible will only receive paediatric doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Cominarty vaccine which has been proven to be safe and effective.
The paediatric dose is a smaller dose of the vaccine, equivalent to one-third of the dosage given to individuals aged 12 and above.
JKJAV said clinical trials found that the risk of symptomatic Covid-19 infection in vaccinated children is reduced by 90 per cent, with post-vaccination side effects ranging only from mild to moderate.
It also said children with comorbidities or those at high risk of contracting severe Covid-19 infections will be prioritised for vaccination
Those with a history of severe allergies (anaphylaxis) against medicines, food or unknown ingredients including those who developed allergic reactions within 72 hours of their first jab will be ineligible from receiving the vaccine.
