KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is among countries with the fastest adolescent Covid-19 vaccination rollout in the world, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

       He said that in less than two months, 80% of adolescents aged between 12 and 17 have received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

       “One of the fastest adolescent Covid-19 vaccination rollouts in the world.

       “Thank you, @DrNoorAzmi (Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali), @DrMahHS (Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon) and everyone at CITF-A.

       “#LindungDiriLindungSemua,” Bernama quoted his Twitter post yesterday.

       Dr Noor Azmi is the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force-Adolescent (CITF-A) chairman.

       Dr Mah was previously responsible for handling the vaccination for the group.

       Based on Health Ministry data on the CovidNow portal, a total of 1,367,216 individuals or 43.4% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 years have completed their vaccination as of Thursday.

       Another 2,524,156 individuals were administered at least the first dose of the vaccine since the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) for the adolescent group was launched on Sept 8.

       As for the adult population, a total of 22,084,594 individuals or 94.3% have completed their vaccination as of Thursday, while 97.3% or 22,792,916 individuals have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

       In addition, 235,607 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were dispensed on Thursday, bringing the cumulative number of doses administered under PICK that was launched on Feb 24 to 48,673,215.