THE National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) for adoslescents officially kicked off today, targeting 3.2 million teenagers aged 12 to 17, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said the programme would be carried out through several methods such as outreach to schools or institutions on a scheduled basis, injections at health clinics and hospitals, as well as walk-ins at selected vaccination centres (PPV) nationwide.

“The teenagers must be present with their parents or guardians to sign the consent form to receive the vaccine,” he told a joint press conference with Senior Education Minister Dr Radzi Jidin at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Putrajaya Precinct 8 (1) today.

Adolescents with health problems will be exempted from receiving the vaccine, Khairy said, adding that the list of special PPVs for walk-in vaccinations will be announced tomorrow.

He said the implementation of the programme was important in preparation for the reopening of schools in October to ensure that the risk of infection in schools could be reduced as well as to prevent the occurrence of clusters and cases among school children.

On September 12, Radzi had said that the ministry would begin face-to-face school sessions beginning October 3 according to the respective phases in the National Recovery Plan (PPN).

Khairy said the increasing trend of Covid-19 infection among children, from infants to age 18, in Malaysia was worrying.

A total of 400,668 cases were recorded this year, involving 256,569 school children and 42,381 pre-school children, compared to 12,620 cases in 2020.

Khairy added that all states with vaccine supplies had been given the permission to start the immunisation programme for teenagers.

He said the programme had started in Sarawak on September 8 and Labuan on September 11 after the vaccination rate in the state and federal territory reached 80%.

Khairy said the programme started on September 16 in Sabah.

As of September 16, he said a total of 86,076 teenagers had been given the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.

The programme is organised by the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force – Adolescent (CITF-A), chaired by Deputy Health Minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali.

Today, a total of 323 students of SMK Putrajaya Precinct 8 (1) consisting of 156 Form Four and 167 Form Five students received the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. – Bernama, September 20, 2021.