The National Covid-19 Immunization Program for Children (PICKids) has decided to no longer offer first vaccine dose after 15 May.
The Covid-19 Immunization Task Force for Children (CITF-C) set the deadline due to low vaccination uptake, which could result in considerable vaccine waste.
A deadline must be set to avoid wastage of children’s Covid-19 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which must be used within six months of the manufacturer’s release.
Therefore, from 16 May this year, the ministry will no longer offer the first dose of the Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech) and CoronaVac (Sinovac) to children aged 5 to 12.
Deputy Health Minister I Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali
PICKids began in February, and as of Tuesday (13 April), only 1,371,120 children, or 28.6% of all children in the country, had received the first dose, while 195,865 children had received both doses.
With this information, parents who have not yet taken their children for vaccines are urged to make decisions in either to get them vaccinated before the 15 May deadline.
The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for children will no longer be available in Malaysian public and private health facilities after the deadline but Sinovac vaccine is only available at private clinics for a cost.
However, parents whose children had been registered in MySejahtera but had not yet been vaccinated would be contacted by healthcare workers officials through phone, social media, or home visits to be vaccinated.
Parents who agree will be given an appointment before the first dose’s deadline, and parents who have not registered their children for the Covid-19 vaccine can do so by 8 May through MySejahtera.
This is to allow for the provision of a link to the appointment system prior to the first dose deadline.
Dr Noor Azmi strongly advised parents who haven’t made up their minds not to miss out on the chance to acquire the vaccine for free through PICKids before the deadline.