Mixed reaction from parents over jabs for young children

 By Olivia Miwil - January 20, 2022 @ 3:59pm

A boy receives a dose of the Sinovac vaccine for children aged 6-11 against the Covid-19 coronavirus in Palu on January 19, 2022. (Photo by MUHAMMAD RIFKI / AFP)

KOTA KINABALU: The decision to allow innoculation of children aged five to 11 with the Covid-19 vaccine starting next month has drawn mixed reaction from parents in Sabah.

Social entrepreneur Nina Othman said she would rather wait and see the response from other parents in Peninsular Malaysia before making any decision for her children, aged seven and 10.

"My eldest son aged 12 had taken his vaccines with fever as a side effect for the first dose.

"I might consider my second child for the vaccine but I am not sure about my youngest who is afraid of needles," she said, adding it was difficult for parents to make a decision on the Covid-19 vaccination based on inadequate data and research.

Yesterday, the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee (JKJAV), through a tweet, said children will only receive paediatric doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's Cominarty vaccine which is proven to be safe and effective.

JKJAV also said children with comorbidities or those at high risk of contracting severe Covid-19 infections will be prioritised for vaccination.

Children who develop allergic reactions within 72 hours after receiving their first dose or those with allergies against any ingredient of the Covid-19 vaccine will not be given a second dose.

Nina added that as herself, her husband and their eldest son have been inoculated, she hopes that the herd immunity concept could give adequate protection without the rest having to get vaccinated.

A father of one, who only wants to be known as said he was keen to get his nine-year-old daughter vaccinated.

"As she has to go to school and other activities are resuming as usual, it is better to get her immunised.

"The virus should not get in the way of children in continuing their studies and living normal lives, thus the vaccine might be the solution."

Sabah Covid-19 immunisation programme operations director Datuk Shahelmey Yahya said for the preliminary figure, there would be about 30,000 eligible children aged five to 11 for the vaccination in the state.