Almost 170,000 children in Malaysia given COVID-19 vaccine

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 169,710 children aged between five and 11 years, or 4.8 per cent of their population in the country, have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of yesterday.

They were given the vaccine under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) which was launched last Feb 3 and will receive the second dose within an eight-week interval.

Meanwhile, based on the COVIDNOW portal, a total of 13,258,893 or 56.4 per cent of the adult population in the country have received the booster dose as of yesterday.

A total of 22,936,644 individuals or 97.5 per cent of the population have completed the vaccination, while 98.7 per cent or 23,212,859 individuals have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

For adolescents aged between 12 and 17, a total of 2,795,507 or 89.8 per cent of their population in the country have completed the vaccination, while 2,874,510 or 92.3 per cent of them have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Yesterday, a total of 118,875 doses of the vaccine were dispensed, involving 35,441 as first dose, 649 second dose and 82,785 booster dose, bringing the cumulative number of vaccine doses administered under PICK to 65,042,686.

Meanwhile, according to the Health Ministry's GitHub portal, a total of 11 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported yesterday, with the highest number in Sabah, totalling five, followed by four in Johor and one each in Kelantan and Pahang.

-- BERNAMA