GEORGE TOWN – Parents with kids aged 12 and below as well as teenagers are advised to be more vigilant since their children are yet to be vaccinated, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Responding to concerns that children may be exposed unwittingly, Khairy urged parents to take care of their children by taking necessary precautions to avoid them from being placed in a perilous situation related to Covid-19.
On parents taking their unvaccinated children to visit Langkawi, he said, while parents are welcomed to do so, they should just remain cautious such as by preventing their children from running around with strangers.
He pointed out while the number of children infected with Covid-19 remain small, there still are instances of deaths involving them.
The Education Ministry is set to make an announcement on the vaccination programme for schoolgoing children soon.
Khairy said that the ministry has placed a key performance index to vaccinate the majority of teenagers by January next year through their schools and special schemes.
There are about three million teenagers in the country.
Khairy said Penang, which has 130,000 teenagers, will begin vaccination for the said category in the next two weeks.
He also said that the ministry has called out to private hospitals to increase their capacity to treat Covid-19 patients even though intensive care units at their facilities were functioning at 117%.
Additionally, Khairy called on the association of private hospitals to boost up to 1,000 additional beds so they can alleviate the pressure on public hospitals in handling cases due to the pandemic.
“Under the law, we have the means to compel the private hospitals to cooperate, but we hope we are not forced to do it.”
He also disclosed that foreigners are now encouraged to attend walk-ins if they have yet to be vaccinated.
The ministry, he added, will launch campaigns to encourage as many non-citizens as possible including the migrant working population to get vaccinated. – The Vibes, September 11, 2021
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