KUALA LUMPUR: The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids), which was supposed to end on May 15, has been extended until end of the month.
Deputy Health Minister I Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said the Health Ministry decided to extend the programme until May 31 to compensate for the closure of PPVs during the long Hari Raya and Labour Day holidays.
He said the decision to extend the programme and PPV operations was made during the CITF-C meeting on Tuesday.
"We understand that some parents may not have gotten the vaccination on the date provided by their MySejahtera because of the Hari Raya and public holidays, since the PPVs were closed. This extension will give parents a chance to reschedule their child's vaccination appointments," he said.
Dr Noor Azmi said was only applicable to those who registered before May 8 and could not get the vaccination on the set date.
"Those who have already got their new dates on MySejahtera may follow the scheduled appointments.
"Parents who have not been informed of the rescheduled date via MySejahtera may walk in to any Klinik Kesihatan before May 31, to inoculate their children aged 5 to 11 years old".
He said any rescheduling dates parents receive on My Sejahtera after May 31, will be automatically cancelled.
"For instance if the date given in MySejahtera falls in June, it will not be valid anymore.
"Any inoculation for those who registered for PICKids after May 31 must be done at the ministry's health clinics, before the date. This would also depend on the availability of the vaccines at the clinics," Dr Noor Azmi said today.
He said children will no longer be offered free vaccination for the first doses of the Comirnaty and CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccines starting June 1.
So far a total 976,336 children aged five to 11 or 27.5 per cent of the child population in the country have been fully vaccinated under the PICKids.
Data obtained from the CovidNow website showed a total 1,580,723 children or 44.5 per cent of the group have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
PICKids was officially launched on Feb 3 to control the spread of Covid 19 in classrooms among children.