PICKids SEES POOR SIGN-UP IN KELANTAN

Only 5,000 of 115,000 eligible children have registered for programme, says state health director

HE AL TH authorities have expressed concern over the woefully low registration rate for the Covid 19 National Immunisation Programme for Children( PICK ids) in Kelantan.

Up to Sunday, only 5,000 children in the state had registered for the programme.

Kelantan health director Datuk Dr Zaini Hussin said the figure was a cause for concern given that there were more than 115,000 children eligible for the vaccine in the state.

He said greater effort was needed to convince parents on the importance of getting their children vaccinated to stem Covid-19 infections.

“We aim to get 50 per cent of the 115,000 eligible children to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine starting today (yesterday).

“Yesterday (Sunday), however, the state Education Department informed us that only 5,000 children had registered for the vaccination.

“Most parents have not submitted the vaccination registration forms to the school. We hope that more parents will reconsider and agree to get their kids vaccinated soon,” he said after officiating at the launch of the state-level PICKids programme at Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital here yesterday.

Present were state health deputy director (Public Health) Dr Abdul Haris Mohamad and Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital director Datuk Dr Selasawati Ghazali.

Dr Zaini said the state Health Department believed that more parents were adopting a “waitand-see” attitude before allowing their children to be inoculated.

“We have prepared more than 400 vaccination centres (PPV) throughout Kelantan for the PICKids programme.

“However, the number of operational PPVs will vary (in time), depending on the response we get for the programme.

“For parents who disagreed initially but later change their mind, they can opt to ‘walk-in’ to any PPV to get the vaccine for their children,” he said.

The take up rate for booster doses in the state was not much better, said Dr Zaini.

He said up to Saturday, the booster immunisation rate of those aged 18 and above was only 25.3 per cent.

“The immunisation programme for booster doses started on Oct 13 last year for those aged 18 and above. But in Kelantan, there has been slow response from the group, with only 25.3 per cent taking their jabs.

“We hope the figure will increase soon, especially after the government allows the Health Ministry to use Sinovac vaccines as boosters for those who received it for their first and second doses,” he said.

On another development, Dr Zaini said the department was happy with the vaccination programme for adolescents (aged 12 to 17) in the state.

“About 81.3 per cent of the adolescents in Kelantan have taken their vaccine doses and this figure has breached our target of 80 per cent,” he added.

Most parents have not submitted the vaccination registration forms to the school. We hope that more parents will reconsider and agree to get their kids vaccinated soon.

DATUK DR ZAINI HUSSIN Kelantan health director