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“The health ministry might have made an error by conducting vaccination programmes in shopping malls since not many people visit malls,” said deputy health minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni.
Lukanisman was responding to a supplementary question by Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah) on whether the ministry intends to collaborate with the education ministry to conduct booster vaccination programmes in schools instead of malls.
He welcomed Cha’s proposal and said the ministry will discuss it with the education ministry.
Lukanisman also said the health ministry is struggling to get more children to receive booster shots due to misinformation from anti-vaxxers on the side effects of Covid-19 vaccines.
The national vaccination programme for children aged five to 12 (PICkids) started in February last year, and the booster programme started last July.
The booster programme was expanded to all children regardless of their health status at the start of this year.
According to health ministry 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.
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