KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): A total of 1,498,274, or 47.6% of teenagers, aged 12 to 17 in the country have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 Cominarty vaccine as of Thursday (Sept 30), while 52,774, or 1.7% of this group have been fully vaccinated, says Deputy Health Minister I Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali.

       "The five states with the highest vaccination rate are the Federal Territory of Labuan at 77.6%, followed by Kedah (67.1%), Sarawak (62.7%), Perlis (61.8%) and Melaka (59.4%)," he said in a statement here on Saturday (Oct 2).

       Meanwhile, Dr Noor Azmi said the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) for Adolescents also paid attention to persons with disabilities (OKU) teenagers.

       Dr Noor Azmi, who is also Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force for Adolescents (CITF-A) chairman, said the programme seeks to inoculate all OKU teenagers regardless of citizenship status or type of disability.

       People with Disabilities Information System (SMOKU), under the Social Welfare Department (JKM), reported a total of 67,676 disabled teenagers, aged 12 to 17, had registered until Aug 31.

       "A total of 51,361 (75.8%) are disabled teenagers in the education system and of that number, 793 (1.5%) are special needs students in boarding schools.

       "Besides that, OKU teenagers are also in 705 daily rehabilitation institutions such as Community-based Rehabilitation Centres (PDK), and government and private OKU care institutions, as well as 21 residential institutions for the OKU," he said.

       He said, the registration of disabled teenagers who are in shelter homes, rehabilitation and education institutions, whether registered or unregistered, must be done by the principal, operator or supervisor of the respective institution through the Vaksin Anakku portal.

       Dr Noor Azmi said the implementation of vaccination to disabled teenagers will be done via several methods, according to their categories.

       He said OKU teenagers attending day schools will be vaccinated on a scheduled basis at vaccination centres (PPV) or schools, while those in boarding schools will receive a vaccination appointment through the MySejahtera mobile application.

       Meanwhile, for adolescents with disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), mental disabilities or with other comorbidities, vaccination can be done at a health clinic or government hospital close to home.

       He said the process of vaccinating bed-ridden disabled adolescents living in institutions and at home will be done on an outreach basis and scheduled by a vaccination implementation team consisting of healthcare staff, private medical practitioners, or non-governmental organisation health teams. - Bernama