EDUCATION groups and a health representative body have questioned the Health Ministry’s (MOH) idea to start vaccination centres at schools to encourage uptake of Covid-19 booster shots. 

Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said the MOH should really consider all factors before starting such centres in schools. 

Azimah said MOH should not further burden the already strained public healthcare workers. 

“The MOH will need to do a cost and benefit analysis.  

“The public health system as it is, is already strained, with overworked and underpaid doctors, nurses and hospital assistants,” she told The Malaysian Insight. 

On Thursday, Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni said the ministry will consider starting the vaccination centres at schools to encourage higher Covid vaccine take-ups. 

Lukanisman said this after admitting that the ministry might have made a mistake by organising programmes for children to get their Covid-19 booster jabs in shopping malls.  

He said the response was underwhelming, with not many people visiting malls. 

Given that Malaysia has entered into the “transition to endemic” phase and with daily cases in three-digits for the past weeks, Azimah said the spread of the virus is not as rampant as before. 

“The incidence of contracting Covid-19 has generally been low and children who do get infected have usually a mild version of it. 

“Therefore to have PPVs in schools appears to be an overkill,” she said. 
National Parents-Teacher Associations Consultative Council president Mohd Ali Hassan said the ministry should not rush into a decision.

“The ministry should be firm with its decision first. This is not about trial and error.  

“This involves lives. Parents should also be consulted,” he said.  

Meanwhile, Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai also said starting vaccination centres in schools may not be feasible as uptake for the Covid-19 vaccination for children is low.

He said the people’s attitudes towards Covid-19 vaccines have changed compared with two years ago when the infection was at its peak. 

“For children Covid-19 vaccinations, they are due for their first jab when they reach age five but many parents now are choosing not to vaccinate their children. 

“Because of this, not many general practitioners are continuing with vaccinations under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme,” he said.  

The national vaccination programme for children aged five to 12 started in February last year. 

The booster programme started last July, and expanded to all children, regardless of their health status at the start of this year. 

Based on MOH’s data, as of yesterday, 50% of children nationwide have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 43.5% have received two doses.  

Only 0.2% have received one booster dose while 26 children have received two booster doses.

Lukanisman said the low uptake of Covid-19 vaccine was a factor that contributed to vaccine wastage in the nation. – June 18, 2023.