Parents Can Now Register Their Kids Aged 12 And Above For COVID-19 Vaccines On MySejahtera
This comes after the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 and above last week.
By Daranee Balachandar — 22 Jun 2021, 02:26 PM
Children aged 12 and above are allowed to register for the COVID-19 vaccine on MySejahtera effective immediately
This comes after the government recently approved the said age category for children to receive the vaccine, reported Malay Mail.
Following a check on MySejahtera, the app's 'Covid-19 Vaccination' tab shows that parents are now able to add their children as vaccine dependents in their profile.
The 'Relation' field shown in the vaccine dependent form now displays an option to select 'Child'.
Families were only allowed to register dependents above the age of 18 on the app previously, The Star reported.
Children cannot use their details to sign up under a different MySejahtera account once they are registered as a dependent.
Dependents must also be accompanied together with their registrant during their scheduled vaccine appointment.
This is in line with the fifth phase of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) which will begin to vaccinate the 18 years and below age group by August
PICK coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin said yesterday, 21 June, that the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Supply (JKJAV) will schedule a meeting this week to make improvements the process of vaccinating children aged 12 and above.
The vaccination process for the said age group will involve the Comirnaty vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, reported Malay Mail.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced last week that the Comirnaty vaccine had been approved for children aged 12 and above following a meeting at the 359th Drug Control Authority (DCA).
Previously, the Comirnaty vaccine was approved as conditional registration for use on people who are aged 18 years and above on 8 January this year.
According to national statistics in 2020, children made up 28.3% of Malaysia's 32.7 million population. Experts had discussed if vaccinating children should be included in the goal of reaching herd immunity.
Epidemiologist Datuk Dr Awang Bulgiba — who is also chairman of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation's COVID-19 Epidemiological Analysis and Strategies Task Force — told New Straits Times earlier this month that the country's 80% COVID-19 vaccination target for herd immunity should include children below the age of 18 years.
However, paediatrician Dr Musa Mohd Nordin stated in a report on 14 June that the risk of a healthy Malaysian child dying from COVID-19 is 0.6 per million.
"I would therefore reiterate that there is no compelling case for COVID-19 vaccines in healthy children as proposed by the two local doctors," he added.
Musa made the comment after two local doctors urged the government and the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) to vaccinate children between ages of three and 17 years with the Sinovac vaccine.
