FORM Five students sitting for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) are most likely next in line for Covid-19 vaccination next month, said Khairy Jamaluddin.

The coordinating minister for the national immunisation campaign said the students will most likely receive the first dose of the vaccine in July.

“The first dose in July for Form Five students,” he said in a joint press conference with Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail livestreamed on social media today.

Khairy said students will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which was recently approved by the Drug Control Authority for use on children aged 12 and older. 

Clinical trials have shown the vaccine to be safe for children aged 12 to 15.

The Rembau MP said the shots for the students were so timed because Education Minister Mohd Radzi Jidin “wants the option” to allow SPM and STPM students to go back to school by the end of July or in August.

Khairy said this would depend on the Covid-19 situation then.

He said the National Security Council had yet to decide on the matter but to keep the option open, “I will have to give them the jabs in July,” he said.

Health experts have previously called on the government to consider vaccinating children at 12 after more than 80,000 young people were reported to have contracted the coronavirus in Malaysia. – June 18, 2021.