By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Feb 26: Sarawak has fallen far short of its target to vaccinate 50 per cent of children aged five to 11 by the end of February, as only 28.8 per cent have received their vaccination against Covid-19 as of yesterday (Feb 25).
Deputy Chief Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, in highlighting this, noted that Sarawak will not be on track to achieve its 50 per cent target for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) despite being the top State in the country with highest vaccination rate for children.
“We really need the help of parents to improve the vaccination rate and more importantly, to protect children from Covid-19 by getting a vaccine shot as soon as possible.
“If you love your children, please find time to bring them for vaccination. It is very important because unvaccinated children are at much higher risk of serious Covid-19 illness,” he explained.
For parents still hesitating to vaccinate their children, Dr Sim, who is also Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government, emphasised that the benefits of vaccines outweigh their risks.
He said that the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been demonstrated with rigorous reviews by experts as millions of doses had been inoculated.
He thus encouraged parents to bring their children for vaccination either at public clinics via walk-in or according to the arrangement in schools.
“If the parents are not present, no medical officers will give the vaccination to the kids. We need the consent of the parents and children cannot just bring the forms and claim to have the consent of parents.
“This morning at Batu Kawah Clinic, we are inoculating 200 walk-ins for parents who missed out due to their busy schedules. I hope the rest can still find time over the weekend to bring their children for the vaccination,” he urged.
Even though Sarawak has a high vaccination rate for children in the country, Dr Sim pointed out that the government still hopes to achieve its target of vaccinating 90 per cent of those eligible. — DayakDaily
