PUTRAJAYA: The vaccination programme for teenagers can now be carried out in schools, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

       He added that the plan to vaccinate teenagers will be conducted in tandem with the resumption of classes.

       “We discussed many ways as to how we are going to give jabs to the students, but we agreed that the easiest way to do it is in schools.

       “Most of the students will be vaccinated at their schools.

       “I think we may not be able to complete vaccinating all teenagers before schools reopen, so we will continue to do so during the school sessions,” he told a press conference yesterday.

       Khairy said his deputy Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali has been appointed to spearhead the vaccination drive for teenagers.

       The nationwide vaccination drive for adolescents kicked off in Sarawak on Wednesday.

       Khary had announced that this would be followed by the Klang Valley and Labuan soon – two other regions that have vaccinated most of its adult populations.

       On another matter, Khairy said the mortality rate involving fully vaccinated people was only 0.009%.

       “Vaccination saves lives and will give us protection.

       “There are still breakthrough deaths, but the rate of deaths involving those fully vaccinated is only 0.009%.

       “So you are better off with vaccines,” he said, urging the public to get vaccinated as it can protect their health.

       Meanwhile, Khairy also did not rule out that the “waning” effect of vaccines over time which may be the reason for Sarawak’s recent high Covid-19 numbers.

       He said the ministry is also studying if it needs to implement booster shots to counter the situation.

       “The ministry had a long discussion on Sarawak. I may be heading over to the Sarawak next week to discuss with the state government on what additional measures we can take to try to reduce the increasing Covid-19 transmission there.

       “I’ve also asked the technical working group that advises on vaccine selection to quickly provide JKJAV (Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply) with a recommendation on booster shots. They will be meeting next week.

       “Right now, we are not sure what is driving the transmission in Sarawak.

       “One possibility is the waning effectiveness of vaccines over time, which we have seen occur in other countries.

       “They have administered booster shots especially to the elderly, the immuno-compromised and healthcare workers. So we are certainly not ruling that out,” said Khairy.

       Sarawak has one of the country’s highest vaccination rates, with 87.9% of its adult population already fully vaccinated.

       In the past few days, Sarawak has continued to record the highest number of daily cases out of all states – mostly numbering in the 3,000s.

       However, 99% of its daily cases are mild and asymptomatic cases, with only a small number of severe cases.

       Khairy said Israel at one time had one of the best vaccination rates in the world. But after eight months, it started to see a rise in cases.

       “This could be due to Delta (variant), or the reopening of the economy, or the waning effect of vaccines.

       “We are perhaps starting to see that in Sarawak, but I’ve asked for greater granular analysis on this and we will be able to announce something once we have the data,” said Khairy.