By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Sept 5: As the Covid-19 Delta variant has altered the concept of 70-80 per cent herd immunity globally, vaccinating Sarawak’s approximately 240,000 teenagers and children is now key to achieving herd immunity as the State has vaccinated more than 80 per cent of its adult population.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian said those aged 12 to 18 account for almost 10 per cent of Sarawak’s total population while approximately 20 per cent are children below 12-years-old.
Therefore, he expressed gratitude to Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin for supporting Sarawak in its teenager vaccination rollout under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (Pick) which will start next week.
“Once again, you can assure the people of Sarawak (sic) and all the federal and State agencies will come together, like in our vaccine rollout for adults above 18-years-old back in June with more than one million doses in 18 days,” he said in a social media post today.
On the other hand, Dr Sim said a study by leading medical journal ‘The Lancet’ found that the Sinovac vaccine is proven to be safe and effective to be administered in children as young as three-years-old.
He noted the results showed that two doses of the Sinovac vaccine, administered 28 days apart, produced a strong antibody response among those aged between three and 17. — DayakDaily
