NST: 517,107 children aged 5-11 registered for PICKids

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KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 517,107 children aged five to 11 have registered for the National Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) as of Feb 1.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in a Twitter post said the figure was 15 per cent of the total cohort of children (3.6 million) that are eligible to receive the vaccination.

"Good start and the Health Ministry will continue to communicate the benefits of getting vaxxed #PICKids.

"I am hopeful that almost half the kids in Malaysia will get vaccinated by the end of February," he wrote.

Khairy said the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force - Children (CITF-C) under the purview of Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali will also be working together with the Education Ministry.

Based on the data shared by Khairy, Selangor recorded the highest registration with 131,500 children, followed by Johor with 81,400, Kuala Lumpur at 47,500 and Sarawak at 40,500.

In Penang, some 34,300 children have registered, followed by Kedah (28,900), Pahang (27,800), Perak (27,600), Sabah (23,600), Terengganu (21,200), Negri Sembilan (16,400), Melaka (15,300) and Kelantan (15,000).

Putrajaya recorded 3,400 children registered for the vaccination, while Perlis at 1,900 and Labuan is the lowest with 900.

The appointment-based PICKids programme in the Klang Valley will begin tomorrow.

The children will be administered with the paediatric dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine which is proven to be safe and effective.

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