School Advisor Articles

Malaysia To Start Vaccinating Teens, Said Health Minister

Published by SchoolAdvisor | Sep 09, 2021

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has announced on Twitter that the COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAVMY) has allowed vaccinations for those between the ages of 16 and 17 against Covid-19, which is also urged by an expert to focus on vaccinating students sitting for major exams. Meanwhile, teenagers between the ages of 12 and 15 with chronic health issues will also be inoculated. They will receive the Pfizer vaccine.

On 20 August, Pharmaniaga is looking into approvals for Sinovac vaccination for teens. The vaccine was used on Indonesian and Chinese teens between the ages of 12 and 17.

While visiting Pulau Larapan’s Covid-19 vaccination outreach programme, Khairy has also told the reporters that a meeting to set the standard operating procedure (SOP) for face-to-face learning in schools will also take place on Thursday (today). The meeting will involve the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health. Once agreements are reached, they will be passed to the National Security Council for further action.

Schools in Malaysia will reopen on 3 October 2021 in stages, with Labuan being the first Federal Territory to welcome its Form 5 and Form 6 students back to school. Labuan has entered the fourth stage of the National Recovery Plan and will be entering the first phase of school reopening. Primary schoolers and other secondary school students will follow suit in the second phase of the school reopening procedure.

In neighbouring Sarawak, Batu Lintang’s assemblyman, See Chee How, has urged the state government to consider its risk assessments and decide the state’s school reopening date.

See said, “Unless and until our children are fully vaccinated, and our health experts in Sarawak are certain that it is safe for them to return to their classes, or impeccable SOPs are in place to ensure that our children are not at risk, it is our collective duty and responsibility to take care of their health and safety.”

School Advisor had run polls and found that the majority of our readers are against school reopening. Since then, the Ministries and Covid-19 task force have worked to ensure educators and school staff are vaccinated before schools reopen. However, it has not been an easy feat.

On 22 August, The Tunku Mahkota of Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim had summoned as many as 779 Johor teachers who refused to be vaccinated to have an audience with him. As recently as 4 September, the Minister of Education, Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin, has announced that teachers who refused vaccination will not be allowed to return to school for face-to-face lessons. “InsyaAllah, I will be contacting some of the teachers myself,” the minister said.

School Advisor have compared the vaccination and school opening rate between Malaysia and Singapore and other countries in the Southeast Asian region.

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