GEORGE TOWN: Some 25,663 children, aged between five and 11, or 16.5 per cent have been vaccinated under the Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) in Penang.
State Health Committee chairman Dr Norlela Ariffin said the figure was recorded from Feb 7, the first day PICKids was implemented in the state, until yesterday.
"As of yesterday, the number of children vaccinated increased from 530 on Feb 12 to 25,663 or 16.5 per cent yesterday.
"As of Friday (Feb 18), more than 64,300 children have registered to be vaccinated under PICKids.
"Various efforts were taken by the state Health and Education Departments to provide information on the benefits of vaccination to prevent the spread of Covid-19," she said.
It was reported before this that an additional 14 vaccination centres (PPV) have been opened to ensure the success of PICKids as well as to speed up the Covid-19 vaccination for children in the state.
When PICKids kicked off in the state on Feb 7, it only involved children with comorbidities and those in the high-risk group.
The children were administered with the paediatric dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine which is proven to be safe and effective.
The Health Ministry had targeted for 70 per cent of school-going children, aged between seven to 11 to receive their first dose within two months, and for 50 per cent of the overall 3.6 million children (including those aged 5 and 6) to receive their first vaccine dose by the end of February.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin reiterated that the government was not going to impose restrictions on children who were unvaccinated.
Meanwhile, Norlela said about 66.2 per cent of the adult population in the state had received their booster shots as of Feb 18.
She said the district with the highest vaccination rate was southwest with 75 per cent. This was followed by Seberang Prai Tengah (74 per cent); Seberang Prai Selatan (72 per cent), northeast (65 per cent) and 45 per cent for Seberang Prai Utara.
"The trend of booster doses in Seberang Prai Utara is almost similar to that in Kedah. It may be due to the same demographic profile of the population.
"The data of those eligible for booster shots as of Feb 18 is 1.41 million people," she added.