KUALA LUMPUR: The government does not control the price of Covid-19 vaccines dispensed by private healthcare facilities for parents seeking to inoculate their children aged five to 11 following the end of the National Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) today.
Deputy Health Minister I Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said the facilities, however, would be subjected to fixing charges according to the Sinovac vaccine ceiling price.
"It is up to them (facilities) to determine the cost of vaccines because they have to buy the vaccines. (There is) no control.
"However, they will charge consultation fees as well as consumables," he said after the World No Tobacco celebrations at SJKC Choong Wen, here.
Dr Noor Azmi said as of yesterday, 48.4 per cent of children had received their first dose while 33 per cent had been fully vaccinated against the virus since PICKids began on Feb 3 this year.
He said authorities now focused on getting children, who turned five after May 31, vaccinated through a registration exercise that would run until Jan 31 next year; while those who had to postpone their second dose jabs after contracting Covid-19 would have until Aug 31 to get their shots.
"There are up to 300,000 children who turn five after today (Tuesday) and we want to ensure they are vaccinated first. As of now, we have not decided on vaccination for children under 5 years old.
"We are also hoping to heighten booster shots among adults. We hope the vaccination percentage will further increase.
"I believe parents will give the consent for their children to be inoculated. The aim is to protect them.
"Otherwise, their condition can be serious if they are infected so much so with new Covid-19 variants, they can possibly spread it to adults as well," he said.