More than 340,000 children in Malaysia given first dose of COVID-19 vaccine

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 341,960 or 9.6 per cent of the child population involving children aged between five and 11 years in Malaysia have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) as of yesterday.

Based on the COVIDNOW website, a total of 13,728,147 or 58.3 per cent of the adult population in the country have received the booster dose, while 22,941,779 individuals or 97.5 per cent have completed the vaccination and 23,218,655 or 98.7 per cent received at least one dose of the vaccine.

For adolescents aged between 12 and 17, a total of 2,797,767 individuals or 89.9 per cent of the group have completed the vaccination, while 2,880,352 or 92.6 per cent have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Yesterday, a total of 173,669 doses of the vaccine were dispensed, with 54,398 doses, including 51,556 for children aged between five and 11 years, as first dose, while 1,544 doses were given as second dose and the remaining (117,727) as booster dose, bringing the cumulative number of vaccine doses administered under PICK to 65,702,191.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry's GitHub portal reported that there were 39 deaths dues to COVID-19 yesterday, with 16 of them in Selangor, Sabah (14), two each in Kelantan, Pahang and Perak and one death each in Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Kedah.

-- BERNAMA