KUALA LUMPUR – The government is expected to allow children below the age of 12 to be vaccinated against Covid-19 next year, considering that the group is one of the most vulnerable, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
He said in a press conference that the number of infections involving children is going up.
“Hopefully, we will get regulatory approval for vaccinations for children under the age of 12. They are considered one of the most vulnerable groups, along with the elderly.
“Most are mild cases, but nonetheless we don’t know what the effects of long Covid-19 on children will be. We don’t want them getting infected in the first place,” he was reported as saying by The Malaysian Insight during the Malaysian Medical Association’s Malaysia Doctors’ Day Celebration.
In May, then health minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said 82,341 cases in the country involved infants and children, 19,851 cases of which involved children below 4 while 8,237 involved those aged 5 and 6; 26,851 were for those 7-12, and 27,402 for those 13-17.
All are Covid-19 patients in categories 1, 2 and 3, however “no one is in the intensive care unit”, he said.
In the meantime Khairy also expressed his concerns with the reopening of interstate travel from tomorrow onwards.
Despite welcoming the decision, Khairy said the threat of another possible wave also looms given the severity of the virus coupled with lackadaisical attitudes.
“Every night I worry. I worry because we don’t know how this Sars-CoV-2 virus behaves…it’s a novel virus.
“We don’t know how it mutates, how it behaves, or what it is likely to do next…most importantly, we also don’t know how people behave. I know everyone is going to be rushing to the borders tomorrow but at the back of my mind…as the health minister, my biggest worry is another wave.” – The Vibes, October 10, 2021– The Vibes, October 10, 2021
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