The National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme for teenagers (PICK-Remaja) will start accepting scheduled walk-ins by teens aged between 12 to 17 at selected vaccination centres (PPV) starting from this Thursday, 23 September. Appointments for the nearest PPV will be decided by schools, who will then inform parents of the date and time.
Deputy Health Minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said 156 public and integrated PPVs nationwide [full list in pdf] have been identified for the purpose. Other PPVs that are not part of PICK-Remaja are expected to cease their operations on 15 October as the government has achieved its target of having an 80% fully vaccinated rate for the adult population on 21 September.
Teenagers who are not in school are also eligible for PICK-Remaja, as they are allowed to walk into any of the participating PPVs to get their jab. If the quota for that particular PPV is used up for the day, they will be given an appointment for the next day at the same centre or the nearest private clinic.
Students that have been given an appointment by their school must stick to their dates and are not allowed to walk into PPVs on their own time. If a student misses their date, they will be given another appointment at the nearest private clinic through MySejahtera. To avoid congestion, only one parent or guardian is allowed to accompany students going to get the vaccine.
For students in higher learning institutions who are still under 18, they are eligible to walk in at any operational PPV. However, they must provide a student card and be accompanied by a parent or guardian to sign the consent form.
The teenager vaccination programme is expected to inoculate 3.2 million teens with a target of 60% for the first dose by this November and an 80% fully vaccinated rate to be achieved by January 2022. As of 20 September, 308,186 teens have received their first shot and 5,964 schools have registered their students for the vaccine on the Vaksin-Anak-Ku portal.
(Source: MoH. Image: KL Convention Centre / Facebook, MoH / Twitter.)
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Telegram for more updates and breaking news.
