IPOH: Perak has a high vaccination rate despite official statistics showing otherwise, says state health committee chairman Mohd Akmal Kamaruddin.

       He noted that the Health Ministry’s CovidNow portal showed only about 79% of the adult population aged 18 and above have been fully vaccinated.

       “The state Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force is currently working with the Statistics Department to update the figures.

       “We believe that among the factors is the fact that some people have received their vaccine outside of Perak.

       “For those who have gotten their first dose, I think we are already at about 90%. We just need to update the figures,” he said.

       As at yesterday, about 1.47 million of the adult population aged 18 and above have been fully vaccinated while about 84% or 1.58 million have received their first dose.

       As for the teenagers aged between 12 and 17, about 3% or 7,768 are fully vaccinated while 80% or 190,640 are partially vaccinated.

       On the vaccination programme for teenagers, Mohd Akmal said the response has been positive.

       “As far as I know, no schools have refused the vaccination programme.

       “There had been some late registration for the programme, but this was partly due to the principals needing to get consent from parents,” he said.

       The state will also beef up its outreach programme to get more people vaccinated, he added.