KOTA KINABALU: A vascular surgeon did not hesitate when the Health Ministry kickstarted the immunisation programme (PICKids) against Covid-19 for children aged under 5 and 11 in Sabah.
Dr Benjamin Leong took his 11-year-old daughter for her first jab of the vaccine by taking her to the Putatan Health Clinic near here on Feb 4.
"I am confident my daughter will be protected when vaccinated. Looking at evidence that vaccination helps protect children from Covid-19 infection and also developing any serious disease if infected.
"Besides, the Health Ministry approving and encouraging children from 5 to 12-year-old to be vaccinated, this further removed doubts that vaccination will cause more harm than good to my daughter," he told the New Straits Times.
Dr Leong said apart from the mild pain on the injection site, his daughter - Carmen did not experience any fever or lethargy.
According to Sabah Health director Datuk Dr Rose Nani Mudin, PICKids kicked off on Feb 3 at five specialist hospitals including Sabah Women and Children's Hospital near here; the Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan; and, the Keningau, Lahad Datu and Tawau hospitals.
As of Feb 3, a total of 23,578 children between 5 and 12 in Sabah have registered in the MySejahtera application for the vaccination.
The expansion of the vaccination programme for children throughout Sabah was increased from yesterday through walk-in, off-site, reach out programmes among others.
The second dose of the vaccine, which is at 10 mcg or one-third of the dose for adults, will be given after eight weeks.
Yesterday, Sabah recorded 1,205 new Covid-19 cases with 112 are among children aged 5 and 11.