KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — Happy but nervous – that’s how 11-year-old Adam Mohd Ali said he felt after getting his vaccination under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) at the Tunku Azizah Hospital here today.
Adam said he was also thrilled to be the second kid in the country to be vaccinated, after his friend, Ahmad Ramdhani Jafri, also 11, had been inoculated earlier by Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali.
“It hurt, but only a little. I am excited to have been vaccinated,” he said when met by Bernama after being administered with the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty jab.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin was also present to witness the event.
Adam’s mother, 28-year-old Rosmariana Tomin, said she had registered her son for the vaccination as soon as appointments for registration opened on Jan 27.
“Thank God, I feel relieved and happy that my son has been vaccinated. Now, I feel that my son is protected and it’s safe for him to go to public places,” she said.
Foo Siang Lin, 40, concurred, saying that his seven-year-old son Izisaac Foo was so excited about being vaccinated that he kept asking about his vaccination date.
He said that his son, excited at seeing others getting vaccinated, couldn’t wait for his jab so as to protect himself, his family and the local community.
In SELANGOR, children aged five to 11 turned up at the Ideal Convention Centre (IDDC) Shah Alam vaccination centre, accompanied by their parents, for their jabs.
The centre is expected to inoculate between 200 and 300 children daily from 8.30 am to 5 pm.
Nur Dina Baharudin, 44, who brought her seven-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, said she registered both of them late last year to ensure they will be protected from Covid-19 infection.
“My husband and I have received our booster jabs and my 14-year-old son has also been vaccinated. So far, we have not had any complications,” she told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Olivia Chiang, 10, who was accompanied by her mother Jane Tan, 43, was happy to have had her Covid-19 vaccine jab.
Tan also advised other parents not to worry or have any fear about the side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine and to not easily believe fake news about the vaccine.
In PAHANG, state health director Datuk Dr Nor Azimi Yunus said a total of 27,864 out of about 197,700 children had been registered by their parents or guardians through the MySejahtera application as of 8 am today.
She said the state’s Covid-19 vaccination programme would roll out on Monday (Feb 7) at the special vaccination centre (SPPV) at the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital.
She also said 78 vaccination centres had been identified in the state, comprising 11 SPPVs, 60 Health Clinics and Maternal and Child Health Clinics as well as seven offsite centres operated by private medical practitioners and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Meanwhile, Khairy described PICKids as the final complement to the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, thus targeting a single dose to to be given to 70 per cent of school children (aged seven to 11) and to 50 per cent of the overall 3.6 million children in the same age group.
PICKids was implemented simultaneously nationwide today for children with comorbidities and low immune resistance in hospitals treating them.
— Bernama
