KOTA KINABALU: With Sabah's child vaccination rate the third lowest in the country, parents in the state have been urged to "open their minds and hearts" and get their young children vaccinated against Covid-19.

       State Community Development and People’s Wellbeing Minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya said with many parents still taking a wait-and-see approach to children’s vaccination, Sabah’s vaccination rate remains among the lowest in the country.

       “For children between the ages of five and 11, we initially aimed to get at least 50% of them vaccinated before (school reopens in March) but as of March 10, we are at just over 17%,” he said Friday (March 11).

       He said this made Sabah rank third from the bottom in terms of children’s vaccination rate by states.

       Shahelmey said since the vaccination for children under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) started in February, there have been no reports of severe side effects on children who received their jabs here.

       “So we hope parents will open up their minds and hearts and bring their young children to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and to help boost their immune system,” he said.

       He said this was important with the nation preparing to move into the endemic stage, and the reopening of international borders on April 1.

       Shahelmey said the booster dose take-up among adults in the state was also relatively low.

       “That is why we will keep pushing for adults to get the booster and children to get inoculated,” he told reporters after launching a dental village adoption programme in Putatan district near here.

       At the event, he said the programme would see dental and oral health care improved with systematic service available to villagers.

       He said this was also part of the government’s approach to catch up on healthcare and medical services programmes that had been put off due to the Covid-19 pandemic for the past two years.

       Shahelmey said the healthcare system had to focus on Covid-19 cases, forcing non-critical medical matters to be put aside.

       “But now, we can start to catch up with what was left out,” he added.