KOTA KINABALU: Parents and guardians should encourage their teenage children to get vaccinated against Covid-19, says Sabah Science, Technology and Innovation minister Datuk Yakub Khan.

       He said this was in line with the Health Ministry’s initiative to get as many teens and those from the high-risk groups inoculated as soon as possible, more so with schools scheduled to be reopened in phases starting Oct 3.

       He said this was also an initiative that has been discussed and approved during the recent state cabinet meeting.

       Yakub said this after monitoring the vaccination process around Sepanggar Island, whereby a lot of those who arrived for the immunisation programme were parents and their teenage children.

       "We see that teens themselves are happy and excited to receive their jabs, because they feel that they can move around more freely once they’ve gotten a full dose of their vaccinations," he said.

       He said almost 80% of the eligible people in Karambunai have been vaccinated to date.

       Speaking on Saturday’s (Sept 18) programme, Yakub said a total of 100 islanders from Pulau Sepanggar have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, administered by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) volunteers.

       "We are glad to see more awareness achieved on the importance of getting vaccinated against this virus," he added.

       Meanwhile, the Karambunai assemblyman said they also provide connection-on-wheels services for health officials to have better internet connectivity to access MySejahtera apps when on duty.